Adelman: Rumsfeld has been in "deep, deep denial" about the war in Iraq

[BurtWorm]

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/005196.html


November 12, 2006

"Rumsfeld: We can only lose the war in America," not Iraq. Former Rumsfeld friend and Defense Policy Board member Ken Adelman tells the New Yorker that Rumsfeld has been in "deep denial -- deep deep denial" about Iraq from the beginning.

... Within the confines of the policy board, Adelman became blunt about his disenchantment with the Pentagon’s management of the war. At the board’s meeting this summer, Adelman said, he argued that the American military needed a new strategy.

“I suggested that we were losing the war,” Adelman said. “What was astonishing to me was the number of Iraqi professional people who were leaving the country. People were voting with their feet, and I said that it looked like we needed a Plan B. I said, ‘What’s the alternative? Because what we’re doing now is just losing.’ ”

Adelman said that Rumsfeld didn’t take to the message well. “He was in deep denial—deep, deep denial. And then he did a strange thing. He did fifteen or twenty minutes of posing questions to himself, and then answering them. He made the statement that we can only lose the war in America, that we can’t lose it in Iraq. And I tried to interrupt this interrogatory soliloquy to say, ‘Yes, we are actually losing the war in Iraq.’ He got upset and cut me off. He said, ‘Excuse me,’ and went right on with it.”

While Rumsfeld may have been the only one to articulate it as such, one might observe that the administration has for years seemed to treat Iraq largely as a domestic framing opportunity/problem.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. I think ol' Rummie

has more then a few screws loose.

[xchrom]

2. i prefer to think of it as deeply delusional.

[gratuitous]

3. So that interrogatory soliloquy thing isn't just for the cameras

And this from an allegedly sympathetic observer of Rumsfeld. Methinks that Donald has a screw loose; just a couple fries short of a happy meal; a sandwich short of a picnic; a quart low; his elevator doesn't quite make it to the top floor; a 10-watt bulb in a 100-watt socket.

If you know what I mean.

[Jacobin]

5. Its much easier to answer questions you pose to yourself

he didn't want to try to answer real questions.

He's really got some serious mental problems.

[BOSSHOG]

8. Should he be waterboarded? You Bet!

[Ms. Clio]

13. either Stewart or Colbert did a bit on the interrogatory soliloquy thing, too

definitely a couple of tacos short of a combination plate.

[Jacobin]

4. He was like Hitler in the bunker

His 'can only lose in America' meme is what Viet Nam was all about....silly idiotic catch phrases that only hide the fact that we conquered Iraq with no valid reason to do so and then attempted to occupy and control them with utterly no legal right to do so, and the Iraqis are appropriately not happy about it and are fighting back.

[Beetwasher]

6. Rumsfeld Watches "Dr. Strangelove"

And takes notes thinking it's an instructional film.

[BOSSHOG]

7. Adelman is the bullet in the gun of robert ford!

He, like the rest of pnacer's, should be tried for crimes against humanity, found guilty, and then hanged by the neck until dead.

[lyonn]

12. Adelman, Ugh, what a chickensh--

He was part of the original plan and now he turns on Rummy. What a guy. This was the bunch that was going to bring civility to government. They are cutting each others throat. What fun or as some say, "they are eating each other."

Grover Norquist was on C-span this a.m. trying to cop a good word for His cause and part of that it seems is Newt Gingrich for President. Yeah, right! Surely Grover can be investigated for somethings. Talk about lying slime. Venting

[redqueen]

9. And bush kept that maniac in charge for political reasons?

:banghead:

Or was *that* the lie... and he really would have kept rummie in charge for the rest of his term, if he hadn't been smacked so hard by the voters?

Gah, these people tell so many stories... who knows what the truth is?

[BurtWorm]

15. It's wise to take Adelman with a grain of salt.

All of the neo-cons, in fact. They know which way the wind is blowing now, as does anyone with half a brain. But why did Adelman wait until the middle of this last summer to suggest a change in strategy? Didn't he have enough clues all along? Clearly there's some self-serving going on here.

Still, his story about the mental decline of Donald Rumsfeld rings true. And he asks some interesting questions at the end of the article: Has Rumsfeld changed? Or only Adelman's perception of him?

[lyonn]

17. Good point, immediately after losing the House bush suddenly

announces that Rummy is going. So who knows what the truth is. That Iraqi group (?) that Casey and Baker are on to decide how to "run the war" make me nervous as hell. The media treats this group like they are all gods. We shall see.

[Done]

10. When Rummy questions himself...

I always wanted to see him torture himself...you know force himself to answer a question he did not want to answer by using one hand to twist the thumb on his other hand.
:bounce:

[biscotti]

11. Adelman himself is at fault as well

He was one of the pre invasion cheerleaders. He wore that 1970's vintage American flag tie every time he was on the tube. At the time I wanted to choke him with it. Strange that now he is trying to assume a moderate roll. He is no better then Kristol. both creeps.

[BOSSHOG]

14. and don't forget richard perle

one of the "architects" of the Iraq War. Wow, he can't distance himself far enough from bush. Step the gallows mr perle, you shall be hanged by the neck until dead after being found guilty of crimes against humanity, notwithstanding your whiny retreat from the one you prodded to make the war happen.

[elehhhhna]

16. Adelmanis Cheney's BRAIN. Screw him. WE didn't have to meet w/ Rums to know

he was in denial. Duh.

[Disturbed]

18. Colonization is hard work.

All of these Assholes thought that Iraq would bow down to the US/UK power. They discounted Iraqi history of fighting off Imperialists. Now they are finally being forced to eat shit and face reality.

[kskiska]

19. Adelman is the guy who said invading Iraq would be a "cakewalk."