DC's 'Open secret': Rumsfeld wants to quit Iraq (the life of 'fobbits')

[Barrett808]

DC's 'Open secret': Rumsfeld wants to quit Iraq
Sherwood Ross
Middle East Times
August 14, 2006

WASHINGTON, DC -- It is an "open secret" in Washington US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "wants to extricate himself from Iraq" but President George W. Bush "remains resolute," thus the US hangs on, a US investigative reporter has written.

The result is a military posture in limbo somewhere between aggressiveness and withdrawal that could bog the US down in Iraq for years. Tragically, it opens the door to escalation of the horrific violence which in Baghdad on kills around 50 people daily and wounds many times more.

The Pentagon has largely switched from rooting out and killing insurgents, as in the first two years of the war (2003-4), to hunkering its troops down in "isolated mega-bases," said George Packer, a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and author of The Assassins' Gate (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). This approach, known in Washington as an "exit strategy," has put the much victimized Iraqi public at increased risk.

"Commanders are under tremendous pressure to keep casualties low, and combat deaths have been declining for several months, as patrols are reduced and the Americans rely more and more on air power," Packer wrote in the magazine April 10 in words that sound prescient four months later as civilian killed and wounded overflow Iraqi morgues and hospitals.

"The retreat to enduring FOBs seems like an acknowledgment that counterinsurgency is just too hard," Packer wrote. He quoted Kalev Sepp, a retired Special Forces officer, who stated, "If you really want to reduce your casualties go back to Fort Riley. It's absurd to think that you can protect the population from armed insurgents without putting your men's lives at risk."

(more)

http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060814-035136-1700r

[mike_c]

1. "This approach, known in Washington as an 'exit strategy....'"

:banghead:

[sweetheart]

2. its the tragic distruction of a fine fighting force

The US Armed services have a fine reputation at what they are paid to "do",
and sadly, nation building is not one of those things. To see a fine force
destroyed like this, picked apart when it is defending nothing but the
corporate cronys of the president's mob... then its more than tragic.

[stepnw1f]

3. He and Bush Should Pay for This

Everyone in his administration should be charged with TREASON!

[Barrett808]

4. I've suspected withrawing those brigades to Baghdad was the beginning...

...of the end. Wasn't sure if anybody's conscious of this as the start of the withdrawal, but it seems clearer every day. This piece makes me think I'm on the right track.

[Jack from Charlotte]

7. This is was happened in Nam. Commanders knew the war was done/lost....

so they just hunkered down their guys in order to avoid further losses.

The politicos didn't have the balls to declare victory (or loss) so the war just continued. Nixon didn't want to be the 1st pres to have lost a war. So more dies.

This little AWOL/moron will NEVER allow a pullout. He's the most gutless pos we've ever had hold that office.

[Joe for Clark]

25. Just B*sh -

Rumsfeld is just a technician in this mad scheme.

He was an awol a-hole - he is now a danger to kids that had no idea this madman actually had charge of our country - they didn't know any better. They thought adults were in control - dumb kids.

I give Nixon some wiggle room - cause I know at least he wasn't an idiot.

B*sh isn't just gutless - he is an idiot.

Joe

[Tight_rope]

44. I would have to agree with you Bush* is a Moron and an Idiot!

[Renew Deal]

5. The funny thing about Rummy is that he's tried resigning.

I don't know if he really wants to leave, but it's funny to hear him say "I tried."

BTW, here is my withdrawal strategy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1903904&mesg_id=1903904

[Bark Bark Bark]

35. Beware The Phony Resignation

I can't believe anyone actually believes Bush tells Cheney or Rummy what to do. Anytime he is away from his handlers, he collapses into behavior that would embarrass a real chimp, and it's been shown on more than one occasion that he has NO idea what the hell's going on, in any given situation.

So when Rummy talks about his "resignation," the more likely reality is that he walked up to Bush and told him, "I offered to resign and you said 'no.' Do NOT forget that." He probably had to drill it into Li'l Dubbie's head a few more times, but now Rummy is inoculated: "I tried to resign, but the President (snicker) won't let me."

[Joe for Clark]

6. I believe it.

The guy isn't a moron. He may be a lot of things, but not stupid.

This deal falls on only one guys shoulders.

Joe

[katty]

8. Dumsfeldor just wants to take his $ and go...then just go!

[teryang]

9. The 2 X 4 is starting to hurt

Airdales committing to ground combat learn a deadly lesson.

What happened to contolling the battlespace? And full spectrum dominance? And Army lite?

The spin machine grinds to a bloody halt.

[goforit]

10. More propaganda. Bush the fall guy, so that the PNAC gang will escape.

[yorkiemommie1]

13. i keep asking the LA TImes to do a series on the PNAC

PNAC needs to be publicized a LOT!!!

[951-Riverside]

31. Bush is the fall guy?

...Why should I be concerned?

[JohMunich99]

34. Or it could be that Rumsfeld doesn't have to want to deal with

the Iraqi situation anymore. God forbid Rumsfeld actually change his mind and listen to people on something.

[pinto]

11. We may very well be in a slow motion exit - to those "mega bases".

It's the British model. We've followed their historical Middle East playbook so far, in many ways. I'm personally betting on partition, btw.

[cassiepriam]

26. Yes, I think there will be a partition. That is where it is headed.

Like India.

[tanyev]

12. That petard starting to hurt a little bit, Rummy? Ouch!

[unschooler]

14. All the PNAC really needs is the mega-bases anyway, since they

don't really care what goes on in Iraq, so long as the oil fields are "protected" and we have permanent bases from which to keep the rest of the middle east towing the line. Yes, it would have been nice to have a peaceful little puppet state in Iraq, but it was never really necessary.

[AntiFascist]

24. The ultimate goal is to get at the oil fields in Iran....

the whole point of "liberating" Iran, as is the case in Iraq, is to ensure that there is an America-friendly government that comes to power in order to sell us their oil, and enjoy the fringe benefits we have to offer those in power.

[sendero]

15. "Resolute"..

... 100 dollar word for stubborn as a jackass and just as stupid.

[truthisfreedom]

16. recipie for disaster: low casualty rate for politics, idiot son must have

his war on, confused old dottering dufus trying to please everybody in a rapidly escalating civil war.

end result: America looks insane. is this what you wanted, you neo-con bastards? is this what you were hoping for? i hope you never sleep again, you ridiculous twits. you've inched us closer to ruin than at any time in recent history.

[bluedeminredstate]

17. EXCUSE ME???

Rummy wants to CUT AND RUN??? Impossible! Why his boss and all the members of his party think that doing anything other than the disastrous job they're doing so far is giving in to "the terr'sts." Dick Cheney said so himself!

It must be asked: Why does Rummy hate America?

:patriot:

[Joe for Clark]

22. Thats funny.

[Roland99]

18. Wouldn't this be a similar strategy to Reagan's in Beirut in 1983?

We know how that ended.

[jobycom]

19. So Bush lost, but he's terrified of going down in history as the boy who

lost. So more civilians in an innocent land die so that Bush can pretend that he is winning. They should all be tried for war crimes abroad and treason at home. Every one of them.

I wonder how many sober days Bush has these days.

[Jacobin]

20. Yep. he'll let his 'successor' be blamed for his fork up

typical

[jobycom]

21. I don't know if he can hang on until a scapegoat, um, successor

is chosen, barring a miracle. Maybe he's hoping the Dems will take Congress and make the decisions for him, so he can always claim the Dems failed to support the troops, and all that same crap losers always spout.

[Jacobin]

23. With all our troops behind 20 concrete blast walls

and only scurrying out in convoys, they can probably hang on

[krkaufman]

37. Let's make sure he's tarred using one of his favs... a sports analogy

The relief pitcher isn't charged with the loss if the losing runs were allowed by the starter. This "L" is on Bush's shoulders.

[Gman]

27. Now look what you've done

George W. Bush. Do you think your daddy's proud of you for this?

[medeak]

28. sounds like Rummy has hired a publicist n/t

[laheina]

36. No kidding!

"Don't hate Rummy. He's really not a bad guy..." :eyes:

[enough]

29. US invasion of Iraq: Utter unmitigated disaster. (nt)

[Joanne98]

30. I believe Rummy has wanted to quit for a while..

Why he hasn't is a big mystery.

[daleo]

32. I don't think the BFEE (like the mafia) lets you quit

You go out feet first, like Ken Lay.

[BlueIris]

33. I was kinda wondering what had happened to him.

Can't believe he's still with us, actually.

[HamdenRice]

38. Uh oh ... The monkey has taken over from the monkey grinder

That's the problem with having a puppet president. He starts to believe he really is president.

Lord help us if he is overruling Rumsfeld and Cheney, and starts implementing his rapture based policies, rather than the mere greed and murderous militarism of his handlers.

[donkeyotay]

42. What a frightening thought

We're moving beyond "mere greed and murderous militarism," which while deplorable was quasi-rational, to having the sock puppet implement rapture-based policy. We could definitely go from bad to worse.

[mainer]

39. Wasn't Rummy unenthusiastic about the Iraq war in the first place?

I seem to recall reading a long time ago that the Neocons told him he had to.

[OregonBlue]

40. They never cared one iota about Iraq or enduring freedom, they

went there for the oil and they will stay there until they have bled the country dry. It's always been about money and power. Don't believe this story. As long as there's oil there, Rummy does not want to leave.

[colorado_ufo]

41. "I wish I could quit ya -"

[donkeyotay]

43. "If you really want to reduce your casualties go back to Fort Riley"

Hunkering down in those bases isn't cheap either. I thought the Iraq War was costing us $1 billion a week at it's peak. Now it's costing $1-1/2 billion a week just to not admit it's a disaster.