Much as I may dislike Rumsfeld (along with the rest of the Bush administration), I always figured he at least had some amount of intelligence. But this latest “I didn’t say that” spiel is nothing short of ludicrous…
…on Feb. 20, a month before the invasion, Rumsfeld fielded a question about whether Americans would be greeted as liberators if they invaded Iraq.
“Do you expect the invasion, if it comes, to be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?” Jim Lehrer asked the defense secretary on PBS’ “The News Hour.”
“There is no question but that they would be welcomed,” Rumsfeld replied, referring to American forces. “Go back to Afghanistan, the people were in the streets playing music, cheering, flying kites, and doing all the things that the Taliban and the al-Qaeda would not let them do.”
[…]
But on Sept. 25, – a particularly bloody day in which one U.S. soldier was killed in an ambush, eight Iraqi civilians died in a mortar strike and a member of the U.S-appointed governing council died after an assassination attempt five days earlier – Rumsfeld was asked about the surging resistance.
“Before the war in Iraq, you stated the case very eloquently and you said . . . they would welcome us with open arms,” Sinclair Broadcasting anchor Morris Jones said to Rumsfeld as the prelude to a question.
The defense chief quickly cut him off. “Never said that,” he said. “Never did. You may remember it well, but you’re thinking of somebody else. You can’t find, anywhere, me saying anything like either of those two things you just said I said.”
Does Rummy really think he’ll be able to get away with claiming that he didn’t say these things? In today’s ‘net connected world, anything said on the public record is there for good once it propagates into news stories posted across the ‘net.
If Rummy’s memory is really that bad, perhaps Google could help him refresh it with results like this PBS transcript of the interview with Jim Lehrer that the quote comes from. Or this Department of Defense transcript of the same interview.
Let’s try that “You can’t find, anywhere, me saying anything like either of those two things you just said I said,” statement again, shall we?
(via Will)
I didn’t say that, you misheard me.
Somebody else said that.
I wouldn’t say anything like that.
You mis-quoted me.
I said that but you’re taking it out of context.
I may have said that, but you misundstood me.
You weren’t listening.
You hear the same crap over and over aging and again. How long are they going to get away with it?
How many people must die, before America wakes up and ask’s. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!”
Why do we allow these people to hold office?
Why do we vote for them?
Why does 50% of America approve of Bush?
I have to stop…..I’m getting depressed
On the bright side, that means that a full 50% of America disapproves of Bush. A few months ago, you’d never have seen his numbers that low. Chances are, the way things are going right now, his approval rating is just going to keep dropping. And as horrible as the cause for that drop is (30-some casualties in the past week?), if it helps more people wake up to the disaster that Bush’s presidency is, then there’s that much more of a chance that we’ll kick the bum out of office next November.
Don’t be so sure. When they run polls like that here in the UK, I’m never convinced that the other 50% are simply not just too apathetic to register their approval/disapproval. I gave up with party politics a while back (New Labour being pretty much the same as Old Conservative) and concentrate on single issues and voting with my £ through ethical consumerism. Do I make much difference? I’d love to believe I do but I doubt it, but it beats voting for career cronies and bent civil servants.
bignoseduglyguy :o)