Victory Will Come as in Cold War, Rumsfeld Predicts

[sabra]

Source: NYSun

WASHINGTON — President Bush's first secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, says the military alone cannot win the war against global jihad.

In a phone interview on Saturday with The New York Sun, Mr. Rumsfeld said the current war is similar to the Cold War, and that America's victory depends on assisting moderate Muslims against extremists and on reforming the domestic and international institutions forged after World War II.

"The concept of victory in this struggle will not be a signing ceremony aboard a ship like the USS Missouri. It will be much more like the Cold War, where, over time, the struggle that is taking place between violent extremists who want to impose their will on the rest of the world, re-establish a caliphate, and require others to live lives that fit their idea of how lives ought to be lived ... that they lose and the moderates who do not want to impose their will on other people, the people who do not want to murder people, cutting off their heads and blowing people up, that struggle will result in the extremists being reduced in numbers and opportunity and support and the people who oppose extremists growing in numbers and being successful in defeating them," he said.

Shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Mr. Rumsfeld described victory as a moment when Americans feel safe. Throughout the Bush administration, the concept of victory has evolved from rolling up networks for Al Qaeda and other terrorists and depriving them of safe havens to the outcome in a battle within Islam between those Muslims who seek war with the West and those who don't. When asked to elaborate Saturday, Mr. Rumsfeld said America's task primarily was "to help those people opposing the extremists, to put pressure on the extremists." But he made sure to say, "The idea that you can ignore these enemies or live and let live or find some accommodation of peaceful existence or detente is just erroneous, it can't be done."

Read more: http://www.nysun.com/article/66643

[Raiden]

1. Victory for the terrorists...

The US, like the Soviet Union, is spending itself into financial oblivion.

[laconicsax]

3. We just need to spend more

if we keep spending more and more, the 'terrorists' will have to spend themselves into financial oblivion to avoid being defeated. All we need to seal the deal is a new Reagan to tell a new Gorbachev to tear down a new 'the Berlin Wall.'

1980s forever!!!!

[maxsolomon]

2. yay, 50 years of war with another ideology!

he is very very wrong.

[nealmhughes]

4. Why, yes, suddenly, rather than worrying about death squads, putting food on the table or where the

extended family and friends are and their condition, everyone shall suddenly light the lanterns after another cold meal and read and have discourse on Voltaire and Hobbes after listening to the full Wilhelm Tell -- all six hours on the battery powered stereo or perhaps they have gone back to windup victrolas these days of limited electricity.

Yes, Beethoven's Ninth's final movement shall become the new anthem for the Iraqis and Afghanis, with lyrics translated into Farsi, Baluch and Arabic and Kurdish . . . Lenny Bernstein's version with Freide substituting for Freude. Why, I can see it now "alle Menschen werden Burder wo deine schnafter Flugel weilt."

Stomachs trump ideology every time, Mr. Rumsfeld and the grave trumps the pantry.

[rockybelt]

5. Violent extremists

who want to impose their will on the rest of the world. Who the hell is he talking about?
Is he talking about AlQaeda or the Bush/Cheney regime?
Require others to live lives that fit their idea of how lives ought to be lived...Spread "democracy"?
Who is dumb enough to listen to what this sleazy bastard says anyhow?

[fascisthunter]

6. Rumsfeld and Every Neo-Con Out There are Violent Extremists

They are delusional, sociopathic and extremely dangerous.

[HuffleClaw]

7. and once again he describes bush administration aims and goals

"impose their will on other people"

"murder people"

"blowing people up"

[cliss]

8. I hope this man lives a long, long time.

I think Don Rumsfailed is around 75 years old.

He was kicked out of the Pentagon last November. He's supposedly busy writing his memoirs right now.

Just wait until his PNAC plans crater. He's not too old to be in an orange jumpsuit + hand cuffs on his wrists.
~looking forward to that day ~

[calimary]

9. Hey! Cold War 2.0! Gotta keep contradicta relevant, dontchaknow.

bush's backstage girl has to have a reason to keep earning the kind of salary that will keep her in Ferragamos, after all.

BTW - Ferragamo's slogan, once upon a time, was "Because every woman deserves to be shod like a princess."

[santamargarita]

10. Donald H. RumsSKULL...

...is another version of Henry Kissinger - a War Criminal!

Remember this quote? Henry Kissinger grumbling, "It is an act of insanity and national humiliation to have a law prohibiting the President from ordering assassination."

[calimary]

11. Welcome to DU!

And there are STILL people who believe "they hate us for our 'freedoms.'"

:eyes:

[hatrack]

12. And with his proven record of success & accuracy, I sure wouldn't bet against him!

:eyes:

:puke:

:evilgrin:

[gratuitous]

13. Rumsfeld says we can't win militarily

I mean, that's the lede, isn't it? We've poured half a trillion dollars and counting down these ratholes, and now Rumsfeld is saying that the entire effort has been for nothing.

Of course, he's also saying that a ragtag bunch of loosely confederated conspirators is more threatening than the Soviet Union, a country and government that had the capability of wiping out all life on earth dozens of times over on an hour's notice.

So, okay, he's completely insane, but he still gets interviewed by the Sun.

[bhikkhu]

14. Rumsfeld needs better glasses

"Violent extremism" is a sideshow, and US empire will fall upon its own crumbling foundations. The dollar is a farce, militarism a failure, and our resource base has been frittered away. It is impossible to run an empire for long upon the resources of subjects with open eyes.

[tanyev]

15. Well, Don, that strategy of assisting moderate Muslims against extremists

might go over a little better if they had electricity and running water and if you hadn't bombed their infrastructure to smithereenies.

[boricua79]

16. he maybe right about it being a small whimper of an end

but it definitely will not come as a result of his hawkish policies.

if we ever do lessen Muslim hatred against us and reduce (because we cannot end it) terrorism to more maneageable levels, it will because more rational minds will prevail.

No thanks to you, asshat!

[treestar]

17. How will we know?

Will it be like the fall of the Berlin Wall or the collapse of the USSR?

The idea that "they" want to make us all live their way is bogus. It had some truth to it when it came to communism. But here, it just doesn't apply. Or to whomever it applies is a tiny minority group.

[Hubert Flottz]

18. One thing you can ALWAYS count on with a loyal Bushie...

They NEVER tell the truth.