Rumsfeld Mourns 15 Killed, Says 'Tragic Day' for US

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031102/pl_nm/iraq_helicopter_rumsfeld_dc&cid=615&ncid=1473

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday marked the bloodiest attack on U.S. forces in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein by mourning the loss of 15 soldiers killed when their helicopter was shot down and reaffirming the administration's resolve to defeat terrorism.

Rumsfeld told ABC's "This Week": "Clearly it is a tragic day for Americans ... In a long hard war we are going to have tragic days."

In another interview, he said: "We can win this war. We will win this war." He added: "The work in Iraq is difficult. It is tough. It is going to take time. But progress is being made."

Rumsfeld told NBC's "Meet the Press," after the helicopter was shot down by guerrillas near Baghdad: "Your heart goes out to their families." He said: "But what they are doing is important ... They are taking the war to the terrorists."

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[Sagan]

1. sure, tragic day...

Are we going to do anything different? Hell no.... Just a "tragic day".. move along. nothing more to see.

[The Zanti Regent]

16. But didn't Captain Jockstrap say Mission Accomplished?

Why he did say that when he pranced around the deck of the aircraft carrier now, didn't he?

AND--A week after that my nephew took a bullet in his spinal cord which has left him a quadraplegic...

Yet our WHORE PRESS lets this modern pale carbon of a Caligula off the hook again and again...

[liberalmuse]

18. I'm sorry about your nephew...

That is tragic, especially since you know the truth about why these liars started this war.

I have a nephew I absolutely adore, but luckily he's not yet old enough to become 'fodder' for these evil bastard's oil grab. He will be by W's next term, hypothetically speaking, I hope. If, heaven forbid, W is re-elected, he will have Congress start implementing a draft. There's no doubt in my mind--they have 6 more wars to fight over the world's oil according to PNAC, which they seem to have been following by the letter. They have our children already earmarked to fight their wars for them, so they and their children can enjoy the wealth and power they are now stealing for generations to come.

We owe it to our soldiers now serving, those families who will never see their loved ones again, and those who men and women who have served, like your nephew, to get these men out of office, stop this war, and reinstate veteran's benefits so your nephew can get the therapy/care he needs.

On edit: spelling

[Kinkistyle]

2. The past 3 some odd years have been rather tragic. (n/t)

[lanlady]

14. you can say that again

that's it in a nutshell.

[pinkpops]

3. these must be minor hostilities

since the major hostilities are over

[0007]

6. What major minor hostilities are you referring too?

Troops are dying and you come in here to say this hostilities thingy?

[dolo amber]

13. I think he/she was referring

to the fact that the administration stated the *major* hostilities are over i.e. "Mission Accomplished"...so according to that train of thought, this tragedy must just be *minor* hostilities. Sarcasm, see?

It's painfully obvious they could give the lesser of two shits about those soldiers. They just pay the lip service to the media and carry on with the carnage.

[saigon68]

4. 'BRING EM ON"

I hope someone remembers this when they are eating their chips and dip, watching their football game today.

[bleedingheart]

9. I was thinking the same thing

my heart goes out to those families. This is only the beginning.

[Ernesto]

30. I doubt that there is much danger

to any of our GOP CHICKEN HAWK'S families. My guess is that they're all safe & sound far, far from the war that their relatives so compassionatly provided us with.

[goforit]

19. Bush got what he wished for , eh?....famous last words for an evil doer!

The # of lives he's been responsible with no remorse!!!!

SHAME ON HIM AND ALL WHOM BID HIS WORK!!!!!!

[hussar]

5. I guess this means that Dumbsfeld and Chimpy

will be attending the funerals of these poor kids then

<sarcasm off>

[Corgigal]

7. "In a long hard war we are going to have tragic days"

That's not how you sold it Rummy. You and your handlers told the citizens of this country it would be basically a cakewalk. Sure.,most of us on DU knew it was a lie but too many bought your lie. You have blood on your hands and I'm thankful I have none.
Everyone who voted for this adminstration has blood on their hands.

[fishnfla]

28. I used to not think that way

but now I do. whoever supported this president, whoever continues to support this administration, has blood on their hands. That includes the SCOTUS. CAN YOU DIG IT KATHERINE HARRIS? YOU FUCKING **** YOU KILLED THESE MEN !!!!

Its time to call these people what they are: warmongers.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. Donadl Rumsfeld is personally responsible for their deaths

It was up to him to make sure that "postwar" security was up to snuff. He should accept responsibilty and resign by 6 pm today. What an evil old man!

[fizzana]

10. Remember this quote from Bush before the war

"There's only one person who is responsible for making that decision , and that's me. And there's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids on the death of their loved ones. Others hug, but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug, and that's me, and I know what it's like."

Get the fuck out there and start hugging. By my calculations you're well over 300 families behind schedule.

[goforit]

21. You tell him fizzana!!!!...........

But who would want satans fingerprints on them?

:argh:

[northernsoul]

44. Has he attended one single funeral?

I suspect not.

Gutless wonders are all alike

[eyeontheprize]

11. Damage control begins.

The soldiers' remains will be returned to the US in secret as if their death brings the country dishonor.

It is ironic that the Administration treats these tragic deaths as shameful because in a certain respect they are, but not in the way they think, the shame is on them.


edited for spelling

[treepig]

36. I think it's time we start demanding

. . .that the American media
Pay tribute to our fallen soldiers by giving coverage to their ceremonial return to American soil.

Sample letter I'm working on for wide-spread distribution:

Dear Media Outlet:

I recently came across a website where the BBC tastefully honors their fallen soldiers when they return home, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/2929823.stm .

I am very troubled that your organization is not providing a similar tribute to our fallen soldiers. Surely you can spare five minutes a day from your non-stop coverage of rather trivial matters such as the Kobe Bryant affair and the Laci Peterson investigation to portray the return of our war dead to American soil. Instead our soldiers die invisibly, with no recognition whatsoever. I don't mean to sound overly harsh, but I find it morally reprehensible that your network, which has played up the war for all it's worth, does not even provide a minimal tribute, such as the BBC provides for their country's troops - I have not seen a single picture such as the one shown below for our troops - WHY NOT!!

[IndianaGreen]

12. It was a "tragic day" for the US when we invaded Iraq

This is the biggest foreign policy blunder in US history since President Kennedy send military advisors to Vietnam in early 1961.

[Military Brat]

15. Heart?

Is Rummy actually claiming to have a frickin' heart? Yeah, I sure as hell wish his heart would go out! And Dick Chainsaw's, too, if you're listening, God.

Good grief, the mendacity and utter lack of humility of these misleaders ...

[kskiska]

17. He's going on about

tongues being cut out, mass graves, etc.

[liberalmuse]

20. They sure like to get graphic, don't they?

Despicable! It's okay if they're talking about what the brown-skinned, 'lesser' human beings are doing to the other 'lesser' human beings. I'd like to see them state the horrific injuries suffered by our soldiers and show the coffins of the dead, out of simple respect for the sacrifice. I'd like them to tell the truth about how many innocent civilians were slaughtered in our bombing campaigns. Of course, that wouldn't sell the war or get Americans all pumped up about kicking infidel ass like telling gruesome tales about how the 'bad' guys are torturing the 'good' guys who love freedom.

On edit: grammar/spelling

[Chango]

22. God damn these idiots...

eom

[DemonFighterLives]

33. I've been thinking about that stuff too.

The other day CNN was showing Iraqi's being pushed off of a roof and being whipped. Looks terrible and Saddam and his gang didn't look nice. I was thinking of a way around this propaganda and wondered what the Iraqi's looked like when they were hit with clusterbombs and heads and other extremities flew. Surely those methods are more humane. The 10,000 that this administration has put in mass graves don't count though I guess. Slogger Rummy should go.:puke:

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. There's a mass grave right outside of DC

It's called Arlington Cemetary and I hear it's filling up quick, Rummie.

[Sideways]

26. Hey Don We Know This WHAT ABOUT THE 20+ DEATHS TODAY?

He is so all over the page and smirking his snarky yellow toothed grin it is all I can do to not kick my fucking foot into the TV.

The only tongue I care about today Donny is your lying ass one wagging all over the place.

What a fucking human (if he can be called that) cesspool.

Rotten fucking shit dust bag. Lots of people died today Donny because you are a class A FUCKWITTAGE.

Take your puttering hands and shove them up your ass. Maybe they will meet your meager brain there.

[_NorCal_D_]

23. You scum

Can you say 'Vietnam'!?

[Chango]

27. Can you say "Mogadishu"?

eom

[catmandu57]

25. That's why it's up to us

to let the rest of America know what the fuck is going on, if the media is not going to do their job. We have to write letters to newspapers, scream loudly every time another soldier loses their life, everytime another soldier is wounded.
We can't let there be a draft, absolutely fucking not, we can't wait another year to stop the killing.

[tedzbear]

29. This time they can't hide the coffins...

15 coffins is too many to brush off. I imagine Rove will tell Bush he has to attend the mass funeral otherwise he will look disrespectful.
I wonder what banner Rove will put up for this photo op? I doubt that it will be "mission accomplished."

[Nottingham]

31. How truly sad!

:bounce:

[wtmusic]

32. And yet he shows up with that shit-eating grin on his face

Rummy is truly evil.

[UCLA02]

34. Any names been released yet?

I've a family friend who's a helo pilot there.

[Gman]

35. Ok... so when is ENOUGH ENOUGH?

How many more have to die before Bush and the neocons get it?

There's way too much testosterone running the show in Iraq. Testosterone should be a controlled substance.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

46. Testosterone is a controlled substance.

Class 3, I think. But estrogen is not a controlled substance. Why this difference exists would be a good topic for some other thread.

[Gman]

37. Bush is LETTING OUR TROOPS DIE ON PURPOSE

He won't pull them out. He's leaving our troops where they don't belong to be picked off one by one and in groups by people that don't want them there.

He's doing it on purpose. Bush is a madman and he must go. Now.

[peterh]

38. No Rummy….We are the terrorist-occupiers…

And they are taking the war to us. We attacked without provocation. We are occupying a country based on lies in order to facilitate an overall PNAC game-plan for the Middle East. American soldiers are dying, not for the defense of America, but for the special interests of a select group. Period!

[UCLA02]

41. "WE are the Rogue State"

Is a bumper sticker I got from democracymeansyou.com and I have it on my laptop, upside down on the lid, so whenever I have it open at school, everybody gets to see it. I especially like my professors' subtle double-takes when they notice and continue lecturing.

[xxqqqzme]

47. Xactly - that quote

bothered me the most. Standing in a doorway in Iraq, US soldiers R the invaders....occupiers.....terrorists.

this is all so tragically, horribly, disgusting.

How is this covered in slick annual reports?

[northernsoul]

39. I hope the fucker is haunted for the rest of his miserable life

He may as well have killed them with his own bare hands.

Satan is stoking up the coals for the newly remodeled "Rumsfeld Suite" of the Hell Hotel.

[UCLA02]

40. Don't count on it

That would require a conscience and a soul.

[northernsoul]

43. yeah, that is the catch isn't it?

I do believe karma, however. Rummy will somehow end up experiencing all the suffering he's created somehow...

[Liberal Veteran]

42. Fuck you Rummy....you are part of the problem.

You make me sick with false sympathy for those killed as a direct result of your evil policy. If there is a hell, they will need to build a whole new circle at the bottom hold the kind of disgusting filth that you are.

[gulliver]

45. Screw Rumsfeld spinning this as a "tragedy"

The Bushies want America sad, not angry, so it's a "tragedy." They don't want us angry at the people dancing in the streets and laughing. That would undercut their request for the $87 billion they need to keep a lid on Iraq until the election is over.

Above all, the Bushies would rather have us all sad than growing angry with them. No WMD. No al Qaeda. A huge mess. "Don't get mad though, America. Just be sad."

Personally, I'm deeply sad and it makes me very mad.

[area51]

48. Rumsfeld

Reuters said:

"Rumsfeld told ABC's 'This Week': 'Clearly it is a tragic day for Americans ... In a long hard war we are going to have tragic days.'"

Hey @sswipe Rumsfeld, too bad you're not one of the 15 soldiers who died.

[Tracer]

49. "... taking the war to the terrorists".

Is anyone else as infuriated as I am over the constant misuse of this ridiculously faulty logic?

Rummy, Cheny, Smirk, Rice all claim that by "taking the war to the 'terr'ists' " in Iraq, we'll somehow prevent them from showing up in Buffalo.

This hardly follows.

Anyone can show up in Buffalo or Boise and do damage and the incredible mess in Iraq won't stop them.

[Scottie72]

50. Tragic?!?!?

I thought it was this administrations feelings that the more that are killed the better we are doing. It seems to me that this administration should be dancing in the streets! :puke:

This is a tragic day... I hope this administrations and the American People understand that Mission is NOT acomplished, this war is not over, more will continue to die for this administrations pocket book. It is tragic the deaths the last few weeks seem to be increasing. How long until 15 is a "good" day for America? because now if only one dies it is a "good" day.. It just makes me want to scream.....