Rumsfeld Called Out On Lies About WMD:
Speaking in Atlanta today, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was sharply questioned about his pre-war claims about WMD in Iraq. An audience member [CIA veteran Ray McGovern] confronted Rumsfeld with his 2003 claim about WMD, “We know where they are.” Rumsfeld falsely claimed he never said it. The audience member then read Rumsfeld’s quote back to him, leaving the defense secretary speechless.
This will surely enhance the SecDef’s standing with the officer corps, whose concept of honor is somewhat less elastic.
How is Rumsfeld’s statement in an interview during the war any evidence at all about his claims made before the war?
Seems like quite a few members of this Administration have very selective memories. They must assume that the general public does too.
Better watch out, soon the right to classify and declassify information will include past news clips and yesterday’s edition of the WSJ and NYT. Heaven forbid that the public might actually have recourse to current history! Won’t all that information just confuse the poor huddled masses?
The war started on March 20th, 2003. Rumsfeld’s quote is from March 30th, 2003. That’s ten days later!! The quote from Rumsfeld was radically different from his statements before the war, and a clear departure from the administration’s pre-war position. Therefore, the quote is not relevent in the least, not “any evidence at all”, to the issue of whether the administration lied the nation into war.
Thanks for the truthiness, Thomas. You are a true hero.
LACJ, if you want to make the accusation that Rumsfeld lied us into war, it would be helpful if the statements offered in support actually occurred before the war, wouldn’t it? I’m not the proponent of truthiness here–you and McGovern are.
What’s the point? You already have your stock responses. I find an untrue pre-war statement, you respond with a lesson on the meaning of ‘know’.
You presume that Rumsfeld honestly believed his statements and therefore is blameless; I believe that Rumsfeld (and the others) knew they were hiding intelligence that cut against their claims and removing qualifiers from intelligence that cut their way.
There is no need to argue it here; you are not fooling anyone but yourself. The hearings are coming, I’d wager, and then we will see.
That’s ten days later!! The quote from Rumsfeld was radically different from his statements before the war, and a clear departure from the administration’s pre-war position.