I'm Having A Dickens Of A Time!

About That “Course” You’re On…
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testified about Iraq before the Senate Armed Services Committee, his first public testimony about the war in six months. One thing became abundantly clear: conditions in Iraq have gone from bad to worse. Four months ago, Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of American forces in the Middle East, told a Senate committee, "Iraq remains a long way from civil war." Yesterday, Abizaid, who testified with Rumsfeld, said that the "the sectarian violence is probably is as bad as I’ve seen it" and, unless rampant violence in Baghdad is "stopped," a civil war could be imminent. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who also accompanied Rumsfeld, added, "I believe we do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil war." Rumsfeld, for his part, pretended he had always allowed for the possibility that -- more than three years after the initial invasion -- there would be rampant sectarian violence and more than 130,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq.

Rumsfeld told Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), "I have never painted a rosy picture. I have been very measured in my words, and you’d have a dickens of a time trying to find instances where I have been excessively optimistic." Actually, prior to the invasion, Rumsfeld publicly said he "doubt[ed]" the conflict would last "six months." More than 40 months later, we're still bogged down in Iraq and still "staying the course" with a failed strategy.

On August 3 and 4, numerous media outlets uncritically reported Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's claim, made during an exchange with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, that he had "never painted a rosy picture" about the Iraq war, that he has "been very measured" in his previous statements. Rumsfeld was responding to Clinton's comment that he had made "many assurances that have frankly proven to be unfulfilled."

These media reported Rumsfeld's statement without any challenge, even though Clinton had -- as promised at the end of her exchange with Rumsfeld -- inserted into the official hearing record a statement that included several instances in which she claimed the defense secretary had painted a "rosy picture" -- certainly rosier than other reports of the situation in Iraq -- and in the case of Rumsfeld's predictions, nothing like that dire situation that has resulted.

Some of the examples Clinton cited:

March 9, 2006: Senate Appropriations Committee hearing
SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D-WV): Mr. Secretary, how can Congress be assured that the funds in this bill won't be used to put our troops right in the middle of a full-blown Iraqi civil war?
RUMSFELD: Senator, I can say that certainly it is not the intention of the military commanders to allow that to happen. The -- and to repeat, the -- at least thus far, the situation has been such that the Iraqi security forces could for the most part deal with the problems that exist."

February 1, 2006: Department of Defense news briefing
QUESTION: One clarification on "the long war." Is Iraq going to be a long war?
RUMSFELD: No, I don't believe it is.

February 4, 2004: Senate Armed Services Committee hearing
"The increased demand on the force we are experiencing today is likely a 'spike,' driven by the deployment of nearly 115,000 troops in Iraq. We hope and anticipate that that spike will be temporary. We do not expect to have 115,000 troops permanently deployed in any one campaign."

March 30, 2003: ABC's This Week
"We know where [Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

February 20, 2003: PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
JIM LEHRER (anchor): Do you expect the invasion, if it comes, to be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?
RUMSFELD: "There's obviously the Shia population in Iraq and the Kurdish population in Iraq have been treated very badly by Saddam Hussein's regime, they represent a large fraction of the total. There is no question but that they would be welcomed."

February 7, 2003: Town-hall meeting with U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy
"And it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

Nonetheless, on August 4, numerous media outlets uncritically reported Rumsfeld's comments without noting his previous statements on the war. Yeah Rush, the "drive-by media" is right!

Civil War? What Civil War?
"It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq. We are baby-sitting a civil war," writes New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. "'Staying the course' is pointless, and it’s time to start thinking about Plan B — how we might disengage with the least damage possible." Friedman, who has been a supporter of Bush's Iraq effort, said it is time for the administration to hold a peace conference and announce its intention to leave. "We can’t throw more good lives after good lives," he argued. Friedman's analysis comes on the heels of a leaked British memo, drafted by William Patey, Britain's ambassador to Baghdad, that warned of an emerging civil war. In the memo, Patey wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair, "The prospect of a low-intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy." Acknowledging the civil war in Iraq would force Bush's hand in changing the course of the war. The administration has indicated that it will not take sides if Iraq enters into a civil war. Another complication for Bush is that Sen. John Warner (R-VA), chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, indicated yesterday that Congress may need to vote on a new Iraq resolution if the civil war grows.

He Really Does Need Help
Last weekend, Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria warned that Rumsfeld "seems literally in a parallel universe and slightly deranged. If you listen to what he said last week about Iraq, he's living in a different world, not a different country." Yesterday's hearing provided fresh examples of Rumsfeld's delusions. “If we left Iraq prematurely,” he said, “the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East. And if we left the Middle East, they’d order us and all those who don’t share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines.” Echoing the faulty domino theory applied to the Vietnam war, Rumsfeld said America would ultimately be forced “to make a stand nearer home.”

The New York Times writes Americans want "some assurance that the administration has a firm grasp on reality and has sensible, achievable goals that could lead to an end to the American involvement in Iraq with as little long-term damage as possible. Instead, Mr. Rumsfeld offered the same old exhortation to stay the course, without the slightest hint of what the course is, other than the rather obvious point that the Iraqis have to learn to run their own country." USA Today also charred the defense secretary, saying, "Americans deserve a strategy based on the reality of a changing situation, not political rhetoric that costs lives and prolongs an illusion." Sen. Clinton yesterday called on Rumsfeld to resign, echoing a call previously made by a host of military generals. "The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people," she said. "It's time for him to step down and be replaced by someone who can develop an effective strategy and communicate it effectively to the American people and to the world."

So Whats Happening In Iraq (the forgotten war)?
Insurgent fighters have killed at least 23 Iraqis, most of them police officers, in a wave of bombings across the country today. In a one incident, a suicide car bomber ploughed into a police post protecting a football match in northern Iraq, killing three officers and seven civilians. Yesterday, a motorcycle bomb in Baghdad killed 12 people. At least 18 other people were killed or found dead across the country. The dead included nine bodies discovered floating in the Tigris River. The intensifying Lebanon-Israel conflict appears to providing a political impetus for the Iraqi civil war. More than 100,000 white-clad Shiites marched through Baghdad in a noisy rally in support of Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. Moqtada al-Sadr, who commands the powerful Mehdi Army militia that has engaged heavily in the sectarian strife, appears to be gaining greater popular support. And the U.S. seems to have few options to contain him. One senior coalition official said, "We have to careful that we don't demonize Jaish al-Mehdi [the Mehdi Army], because look at the polls -- Moqtada Sadr himself is an enormously popular figure. Why? Because he is thumbing his nose at the coalition."

But Maybe The World IS Coming To an End?
Yesterday on the 700 Club, evangelical leader Pat Robertson declared himself "a convert" on the issue of global warming. Robertson said that he has "not been one who believed in global warming in the past." But now, he said, "it is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air." Robertson implored, "we really need to do something on fossil fuels." But Robertson isn't the only one feeling the heat and thinking twice. "More Americans than ever disapprove of President Bush's handling of the environment," according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, which found 56 percent believe the administration is doing too little protect the environment, a 15 percent jump since 2001. Roughly three-quarters of Americans say they have had to cut back on household spending because of devastating energy bills and the rising cost of oil. One respondent noted, "At some point you've just got to look at things realistically and realize we're not leaving much of a legacy for our grandchildren if we don't address these issues."

Well, At Least There Is One 9/11 War Game Now In The Mainstream Press
I’m speaking of this week's article in Vanity Fair Magazine on "a" wargame exercise on 9-11. Michael Kane, who has interviewed an number of key individuals on this issue takes the author of the Vanity Fair article to task, pointing out that there were at least six wargames happening on the morning of 9-11 and asking the most important question: Why does mainstream news almost never utilize the definitive research piece on 9-11, CROSSING THE RUBICON, by Mike Ruppert? More here (if you wish to subscribe)

Quickies
A Gallup poll released yesterday "revealed another upward bump in the number of Amercians (55 percent) who now want a complete U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq in the next 12 months."

Condoleezza Rice expressed support Thursday "for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon as the first phase in ending the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah," the most concrete signal yet that the U.S. may be willing to compromise on the stalemate over how to end the fighting.

Three Senate Judiciary Committee members will block the confirmation of Steven Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department's office of legal counsel, to protest President Bush's move to squash a probe into the NSA wiretapping program by denying investigators security clearances.

Eight months after former Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham confessed to taking massive bribes in exchange for providing at least $230 million in questionable defense and intelligence contracts, the Defense Department inspector general still has not determined whether any of those projects were improper."

(Sources: ThinkProgress, NY Times, USA Today, TimeandDate.com, Wikipedia, LA Times, Washington Post, FOXNews, FromTheWilderness, Media Matters)