Yesterday Rumsfeld insisted that people who did not support the war in Iraq were simply too dense to learn the lessons of history and compared those who opposed our invasion as being like those who failed to oppose Hitler before WWII.
Once again he tied Iraq to 9/11 and other attacks by Islamic terrorists. That there was absolutely no indication that Saddam Hussein however evil was connected to any of these events seems to have slipped his mind. That Hussein was pretty well confined to the center of his country with U.S. overflights and U.N. inspectors went unmentioned. That Iraq was the only true counterbalance to Shiite extremism was not acknowledged. That having decided on this course of action, he was the one whose hubris dictated a method that it would be an absolute failure because of a lack of long term thinking.
All he said was that he was right and all the critics were wrong. Those who said that an invasion of Iraq was a misplaced use of force when the center of terrorism was in Afghanistan are hardly compatriots of Neville Chamberlain. Mr. Rumsfeld, please resign and go home. It is you who have not learned the history of the Middle East and its stresses and relationships. You gave the President disasterous advice which he to his shame followed. The end result is that our world is less safe, the terrorists more dangerous, and we are left with few allies for the fight.
Tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. However, in relation to Iraq, you and the President seems intent on other strategeries. In the interest of saving time, this is how you go about beating the horse. None of them will work, but reason is not one of your strong points, so maybe irony will work.
Buy a stronger whip.
Change riders (Generals).
Say things like, "This is the way we have always ridden this horse."
Appoint a committee to study the horse.
Increasing the standards to ride dead horses.
Appoint a team to revive the dead horse.
Create a training session to increase our riding ability.
Compare the state of dead horses in today’s environment.
Change the requirements to "This horse is not dead."
Hire contractors to ride the dead horse (Haliburton et al).
Declare "No horse is too dead to beat."
Provide additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
Do a Cost Analysis study to see if contractors can ride it cheaper.
Purchase a product to make dead horses run faster.
Declare the horse is "better, faster and cheaper" dead.
Find uses for dead horses.
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