If you don't support Bush you are morally and intellectually confused

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anitram

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So says Rumsfeld in the Washington Post.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces "a new type of fascism" and likened critics of the Bush administration's war strategy to those who tried to appease the Nazis in the 1930s.

In unusually explicit terms, Rumsfeld portrayed the administration's critics as suffering from "moral or intellectual confusion" about what threatens the nation's security. His remarks amounted to one of his most pointed defenses of President Bush' war policies and was among his toughest attacks on Bush's critics.
 
Funny how conservatives are allowed to bring up comparisons to Nazism, but liberals cannot.

Melon
 
Rumsnamara was part of the policies that armed the mujahadeen (who he now refers to as fascists) in the late 80s. I guess when you need them to help you fight communism (Russia) they lose their fascist status?...and we're the ones who are morally confused?:rolleyes:
 
Donald Rumsfeld meets with unhappy relatives of the Army's 172nd Stryker Brigade, ordered to stay in Iraq an extra four months.

By Julian E. Barnes
Times Staff Writer

August 27, 2006

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld took polite but pointed questions Saturday from the wives of soldiers from an Alaska-based Army unit whose yearlong tour in Iraq has been extended by as much as four months, a decision that has angered and disappointed many of the families.

About 700 family members met with Rumsfeld at a gym at Ft. Wainwright, where the 172nd Stryker Brigade is based. The 172nd, which had been deployed in Mosul, was moved to Baghdad this month as part of an attempt to dampen rising sectarian violence.

The extension was ordered as the first of the brigade's 3,800 members began leaving Iraq, returning home to long-planned reunions, vacations and delayed family celebrations. The order stunned brigade members and their families.

Perhaps the most defiant question given to Rumsfeld on Saturday was from a woman who asked whether the military was training another unit to take the brigade's place and ensure its tour did not have to be extended again.

The question received strong applause, and Rumsfeld quipped: "You knocked it out of the park."

He tried to be reassuring without being definitive.

"You want them home for Christmas?" Rumsfeld asked the crowd.

The families responded with a loud "Yeah!"

"I wish I had a magic wand and the power to say yes. I don't," Rumsfeld said. "I will do everything in the world to make sure they are not extended past the 120 days."

Before the meeting, Rumsfeld told reporters he could not promise a Christmastime return. "I'd love to be Santa Claus, but I am not," he said.

Underscoring the sensitivity of Saturday's session, the meeting between family members and Rumsfeld was off-limits to the news media. Rumsfeld said he believed his meetings with families of service members should be kept private.

But several family members videotaped the session, and one of the wives critical of Rumsfeld played her tape for the news media shortly after it ended. From the tape, there seemed to be some tension in the room. All of the questions were polite. The families laughed at Rumsfeld's jokes and applauded some of his answers. Still, the loudest applause was for the most pointed questions.

An initial meeting between families and commanders, shortly after the extension was ordered in July, was contentious.

"He didn't answer directly any of the questions, so I don't see how you could be satisfied," said Jennifer Davis, whose husband is in the 172nd. "I think it was a show."

And Rich Moniak, whose son Sgt. Michael Moniak is in the 172nd, said he felt Rumsfeld was trying to "charm" the families.

Rumsfeld is visiting in Alaska to tour a missile defense installation and to open a World War II memorial. The hourlong visit with the families was added to his schedule. Addressing complaints of relatives, Rumsfeld praised the Army unit and said the soldiers had volunteered to serve.

"These people are all volunteers, they all signed up," Rumsfeld told reporters on his plane en route to Fairbanks. "They are doing what they do because they want to; they are proud of what they do; they do it very, very well."

Rumsfeld emphasized later that he appreciated the sacrifice of the soldiers and their families.

Before the meeting, Tammy Wilson, whose husband, Chief Warrant Officer Frank Wilson, serves in the unit, said she was anxious to hear what Rumsfeld had to say.

Wilson said she had been struggling to handle the demands of home-schooling three children by herself while her husband served in Mosul. And she said she had been eagerly awaiting the day her husband would come home.

"There are people who are mad and don't want to hear him speak," Wilson said of Rumsfeld's visit. "But I think it shows he is concerned."

Wilson said she wanted to ask Rumsfeld why her husband's unit was assigned the new duty in Baghdad instead of a unit already in the capital.

Speaking before the meeting, Rumsfeld said that the 172nd had been held over to reduce the level of violence and deal more aggressively with sectarian death squads.

"This particular unit, needless to say, is very experienced and has 300 — plus or minus — Strykers, which creates quite a presence in a city," he said. A Stryker is an eight-wheeled armored vehicle.

At the meeting, Rumsfeld was asked why the Strykers were needed in Baghdad if most of the soldiers were doing the work of dismounted infantry, such as clearing houses. The question received loud applause.

Rumsfeld said the Strykers have a "physical and psychological effect."

At another point, he also explained that it was easier to build up troop strength quickly by holding units back, rather than rushing ahead a unit preparing for a later deployment.

Another Stryker-equipped brigade has taken over in Mosul.

The Army has been offering extra counseling for families. In addition, commanders have been trying to organize volunteers to help the families prepare for the Alaska winter, a job many wives were counting on their returning husbands to do. The military also is providing the soldiers a $1,000 bonus for each extra month they remain in Iraq.

After the meeting, at a brief news conference in downtown Fairbanks, Rumsfeld said he felt the exchange was a good one.

About 25 yards from the news conference, a couple of antiwar demonstrators looked on.

"Get us out of Iraq!" one shouted.

"I know the feeling," Rumsfeld answered.
 
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melon said:
Funny how conservatives are allowed to bring up comparisons to Nazism, but liberals cannot.

Melon
There are plenty of liberals and leftists who have raised the comparison of Islamic fascism to the Clerical Fascism that dominated Europe and the connections between the church and fascist regimes in the 20th Century.
 
Rumsfeld asks Americans for 'patience' in Iraq

Aug 29 9:46 AM US/Eastern


Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Americans that if they have patience, the situation in Iraq will eventually change for the better.

"Today we will not tell 50 million Afghans and Iraqis that because the going is tough -- and it is tough, let there be no doubt -- that we will abandon them to the beheaders, the terrorists, the assassins, and 21st century fascists who seek to attack us abroad and here at home," Rumsfeld told the Veterans of Foreign Wars association.
 
A legitimate and truthful position, a good deal more honest than everything is alright or there is no hope whatsoever.
 
Arrogant, know it all types like Rumsfeld always resort to insulting the intelligence of those who challenge their ideas and supposed knowledge. It's the last resort of the egomaniacally desperate.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
Arrogant, know it all types like Rumsfeld always resort to insulting the intelligence of those who challenge their ideas and supposed knowledge. It's the last resort of the egomaniacally desperate.

In terms of insulting someones intelligence, how often in here do we see people do that to Bush or members of his administration?
 
Maoilbheannacht said:


In terms of insulting someones intelligence, how often in here do we see people do that to Bush or members of his administration?



well, there is ample evidence ...
 
Maoilbheannacht said:


In terms of insulting someones intelligence, how often in here do we see people do that to Bush or members of his administration?

Um, you do see the difference in someone in here and someone in the White House doing this, don't you?
 
Rumsfeld asks Americans for 'patience' in Iraq

Aug 29 9:46 AM US/Eastern


Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Americans that if they have patience, the situation in Iraq will eventually change for the better.

"Today we will not tell 50 million Afghans and Iraqis that because the going is tough -- and it is tough, let there be no doubt -- that we will abandon them to the beheaders, the terrorists, the assassins, and 21st century fascists who seek to attack us abroad and here at home," Rumsfeld told the Veterans of Foreign Wars association.

A_Wanderer said:
A legitimate and truthful position, a good deal more honest than everything is alright or there is no hope whatsoever.


I do not think it is legitimate

to mix Afghanistan and Iraq

people are not saying to pull out of Afghanistan

if anything the people that were against Iraq
wanted more done in Afghanistan
and the focus kept on BinLaden

When the Bush Administration tied Iraq to 911 it was a lie

and eventually they had to admit that there was no connection


Now they are so desperate they are trying to tie it to Afghanistan?
 
Irvine511 said:




well, there is ample evidence ...

Thats been the opinion of many people since before the first election. Its been six years now, and this type of bashing does little to contribute to the discussion of serious issues.
 
Donald Rumsfeld is entirely incompetent, so for him to be preaching about other people's intellect, morality or giving us instructions about patience is laughable.

Incredible display of hubris.
 
Maoilbheannacht said:


Thats been the opinion of many people since before the first election. Its been six years now, and this type of bashing does little to contribute to the discussion of serious issues.

You have heard the man speak right?:huh:
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


Um, you do see the difference in someone in here and someone in the White House doing this, don't you?

But Don Rumsfeld is not attacking people in the way that he or the President are often attacked. He is for a policy of robust intervention in the world as opposed to one that uses only carrots to try to prod people to cooperate. Its a valid point. World War I was terrible for Europe, and produced a climate where the great Powers were unwilling to step up and intervene at times that would have prevented World War II and the deaths of 59 million people. Thats an extreme example of course, but it does fit the context of the debate about when and where the United States should intervene in the world, and for how long it needs to stay in certain places.
 
Maoilbheannacht said:


Thats been the opinion of many people since before the first election. Its been six years now, and this type of bashing does little to contribute to the discussion of serious issues.

what was speculation before the first election


has become abundantly clear to anyone that is not drinking the neo-con kool-aid

I can not tell you how many life long Republicans are seeing it this way
 
anitram said:
Donald Rumsfeld is entirely incompetent, so for him to be preaching about other people's intellect, morality or giving us instructions about patience is laughable.

Incredible display of hubris.

Well, he is the appointed official of a twice elected President. Congress approved his appointment. If he is really that incompetent, then the American people could have thrown the President and him out in 2004. :wink:
 
Maoilbheannacht said:


But Don Rumsfeld is not attacking people in the way that he or the President are often attacked.

Oh please? It's worse, he's a figure of authority. :huh:

Maoilbheannacht said:

He is for a policy of robust intervention in the world as opposed to one that uses only carrots to try to prod people to cooperate. Its a valid point.

Valid point? Well then anyone who's seen the president speak has a valid point.
 
deep said:


what was speculation before the first election


has become abundantly clear to anyone that is not drinking the neo-con kool-aid

I can not tell you how many life long Republicans are seeing it this way

Well, if thats definitely the case, the President would not have won the election in 2004, and we would of had a Democratically controlled congress by 2002.

Imagine if we get to January 20, 2009 with still a Republican congress and a Republican in the White House. It may be the first undefeated run for a President and his party since at least Roosevelt, if ever.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


Oh please? It's worse, he's a figure of authority. :huh:



Valid point? Well then anyone who's seen the president speak has a valid point.

This is a serious policy debate, not an attempt to ridicule anyone. He did not speak in terms that I would find unbecoming of a "figure of authority". I understand why people are attacking him on this, but it would be better if they engaged on the issue rather than implying that he said this or that and focusing on HIM as opposed to what the United States should actually do.

It would be refreshing in this country if the opposition actually spent more time offering solutions and idea's for the country as opposed to the unrelenting attacks on people in office.
 
Maoilbheannacht said:


Well, he is the appointed official of a twice elected President. Congress approved his appointment. If he is really that incompetent, then the American people could have thrown the President and him out in 2004. :wink:

Or maybe that makes a statement about 50% of your electorate. :wink:
 
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