Rumsfeld reassures: "Things are not out of control in Iraq"

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 3:43pm

And denial -- in the face of 30 plus Marine deaths in 3 days -- is an arrogant stance indeed. Friday in the one year anniversary of the President's memorable performance on the aircraft carrier. I hope we get as much replay of that -- ironic commemorative footage -- as we got of the endless loop of Saddam's statue tumbling to the ground.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 3:46pm

Whew, So glad he told us. Now I can sleep at night. I am so glad the war is over.

[FrontRow]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 3:53pm

Auggie27, thanks for a superbly written paragraph, right down to your use of the word "performance" re: the aircraft carrier event.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 3:53pm

Ashcroft: All is well in Iraq. I mean, sure, people keep getting shot, there is all sorts of violence, religious unrest and a war is going on but, hey, at least they're not masturbating or looking at completely legal pornography. Let's keep things in perspective.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 3:55pm

The man clearly has a problem with sex. Violence, not so much...

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 4:04pm

Rumsfield's starting to sound like the Iraqi Information Minister.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 5:43pm

This whole administration continues to live in a alternative reality where everything is fine, fine, fine. How can anyone with a brain in their head vote for Bush this year? How? And yet still a large part of the country supports him.....so wierd.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 6:13pm

well, part of my reason, borstal is comments like jfk's this morning labeling muqtada al-sadr a "legitimate voice." he's a thug trying to murder his way to the top. his merry men killed ayatollah abdul majid al-khoei outside the imam ali mosque which is why there's been an unserved arrest warrant with his name on it since last year. he has no formal islamic standing and did not even finish his religious training at the hawzah. a "legitimate voice" indeed. a man who takes his orders from iran based ayatollah kazim al-haeri and calls for violence and death as legitimate forms of resistance in contrast to sistani's calls for peaceful vigils. good idea, john, open a dialogue with him and see if you can't feel his pain.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 7:31pm

That's Clinton's line, Pap. You wouldn't want us attributing something Bush says to Karl Rove, would you? Oh, strike that.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 7:36pm

But Papa, the splitting of hairs over whose moral outrage is the correct one and whose isn't is becoming pitifully irrelevant. It doesn't matter if we're "right," on so many issues--isn't that clear by now? Right or wrong, the Arab world increasingly sees nothing but American bulls in a vulnerable china shop--their shop--and the same issues of symbolism are ever important. Just as we may have been justified -- totally"right" -- to close the paper, it backfired because WE were perceived to be the thugs. Yes, this man is a monster with a violent agenda, but he's is a "legit voice" to the many Iraqis who prefer ANY voice of their own culture to the gun-toting presence of American soliders.

Good grief, so John Kerry was mealymouthed, aiming to offer an overly diplomatic take on Muqtada. (Gee, I guess there's only one Axis-of-Evil era bit of jargon that's supposed to be appropriate for a Cowboy, er, Leader of the Free World, "Wanted Dead Or Alive.") Kerry's overly well-chosen words are hardly the problem today! 30 MORE Marines are dead, hundreds of Iraqi, we dropped a bomb on a Mosque and its courtyard as many watched. "Right" or wrong, well-intended, moral sound because it was being inappropriately used to hide subversives -- it's how OUR actions LOOK that matters. All that rhetoric about "hearts and minds" of Iraqis. The Arab television is broadcasting constant footage of Iraqi casualities in these violent confrontations. How can anyone say this war has made the would a safer place? Surely, Papa, surely you can at least understand the increasing outrage at the way this has gone.

Updated On: 4/7/04 at 07:36 PM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/7/04 at 8:20pm

no, auggie, we fired rockets from a gunship at the militants who were on a wall outside a mosque using it as cover to rain rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire down on marines. ***correction, we did drop one 500 lb laser guided bomb from an f-16 on the outer wall and one hellfire missile struck the base of its minaret (i myself would have offered women children and old people a chance to leave and then wiped the entire mosque complex off the face of the earth along with all those who chose to stay inside)*** if you hold a child in front of you while shooting at me, do i sacrifice my life rather than shoot back for fear of hitting the child? if you value life so cheaply, i'm sorry to say that if i must fight you then i will do it not using rules of honor but by the rules of the street. hold up a baby in front of you while shooting and i will shoot right through that baby's head and kill you. it will play badly on tv, but until the enemy know that we are not going to cede the rules to them, they will continue to use ploys such as these.

yes, the outer wall of a mosque was damamged and "worshippers" were injured and killed. the majority of them were worshipping with kalashnikovs and grenades. the problem is that we have been overly cautious throughout this engagement for fear of damaging our relations with the "arab street." now we must wipe out these few thousand, and that's all it is. because as loud and violent as he is, al sadr does not command a huge following among iraqis.

yes, over 30 american were killed in the last few days in an aggressive campaign of well planned violence. more will die. al sadr wisely took advantage of an uprising among sunnis who he would gladly kill to hit americans. the problem is not that we are bulls in a china shop but that we are trying to skip from lily pad to lily pad carrying roses while our enemy hides behind his grandmother while lobbing grenades in our path. we must accept that there is no way that we will look good to some people, no matter what we do. these outside views matter less than the views of the people in iraq who are just as fearful of an armed madhi militia as they were of saddam.

they know that al sadr has rasied an army of thugs and murderers who want to formulate a civil war within iraq that will tear the shi'a apart. they realize that he is merely a front for the kind of religious extremism that sits next door and regardless of what al jazeera and al arabiya and al reuters would have the american people believe, this is not representative of the majority of iraqis. it's a well armed and ruthless minority that is killing to have their way and it will not work. yes, we lost a lot of soldiers and they and their families are in my prayers as is my nephew who fights there too.

i understand auggie, that war means fighting and fighting means killing. history will show that this was a tipping point when civilization was challenged. do we slink back and cede the world to barbarians, or do we forge ahead and pay any price, bear any burden. i believe that if we elect john kerry we'll have chaos disguised as nuance and chaos in this day and age will mean armageddon. it's not a matter of whether or not to make the fight. it hasn't been that for several years. all it is now is a matter when and where. kerry will choose to put it off and appease until he must lash out, and when he does the result of that will be a butcher's bill unlike anything the world has seen.

Updated On: 4/7/04 at 08:20 PM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 4/8/04 at 10:13am

Hate to drop this link and then sign off and go to work, but if nothing else, this article addresses one of the concerns that we all have on our mind...the likelihood of a major attack concurrent with either the one of the conventions or the election. It's worth a look, even if you don't agree with the slant.
Election attack

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 4/8/04 at 2:47pm

I've really been following the 9/11 Commission proceedings, and news of the war in Iraq, and I've come to one undeniable conclusion:

The America I knew is gone.

It's changed and not in a good way. Or maybe is was always this corrupt, and I simply wasn't a aware of the full extent.

I'm happy with my city and state government, I have pretty much lost all respect for out national leaders.

I'm not in love with John Kerry, but when the President of the United States seeks support for a constitution amendment which would prevent me and my partner from ever being married, well...I really don't have a choice.

Even if Bush is fully aware that this amendment hasn't much of a chance of passing and he's only using it to garner additional support, I can't help but despise the man for toying which such an important issue to me.

Did our elected leaders ever really care about their duties to the public, or was it all a sham to get re-elected by manipulating the public?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/8/04 at 3:11pm

The only thing left for us to do is take off our shirts and hug each other, WCA.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 4/8/04 at 3:14pm

LOL!!!! Thanks! I Needed That!!!!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/8/04 at 3:16pm

You think YOU need it?!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 4/8/04 at 3:34pm

Mommy!!!
Namo and WCA are all furry and hugging and THEY WON'T SHARE!

Updated On: 4/8/04 at 03:34 PM