As much as I like the directness with which Rumseld speaks, and the way he challenges the media, I don't think we can ingore just how badly this entire mission in Iraq has been managed.
I don't call for Rumsfeld to resign (and no one in the world would care if I did), but I'm not particularly impressed with his stewardship of this war. I can't shake the memory of Rumsfeld claiming it was just a few "deadenders" we were facing in Iraq. As best I can tell, nearly every assumption Rumsfeld's defense department made as to how post-war Iraq would look has been utterly and completely wrong. It appears to me that both Bush and Rumsfeld fundamentally misread the Iraqi people and how they would respond to our attempts to give them democracy.
I agree with you about their optimism concerning the war (Bush and Rummy together). The long history of Islamic fanaticism should have been a lesson for both of them. They have a principle that territory won is never given back.
Turkey was a, ah, turkey, too. That is part of the equation.
Have we been watching the same war?
"It appears to me that both Bush and Rumsfeld fundamentally misread the Iraqi people"
Its hard to "read" the iraqi people when they are getting blown up daily. They need assistance to get ahold of this. The UN can't, and won't do it. They do not want the U.S. to succeed in Iraq because it would validate Bush's pre-emptive approach. Something Kofi and crowd are not in to.
In general, as most societies, they want freedom. Its just that there is decades of ingrained, societal corruption and super predatorial evil that needs to be wiped away. Their societal value-based system is built on murder, torture, and arbitrary justice. Doesn't happen over night. And frankly, while we are still a oil-based society we need trade with them to maintain our standard of living. Nothing wrong to recognize that.