Rumsfeld suppresses 'insurgent' ("an epiphany")

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided to avoid using the word "insurgent" to describe the Iraqis fighting US and Iraqi forces in Iraq.

Rumsfeld told reporters Tuesday the switch was the result of "an epiphany" he had over the weekend.

"I thought to myself, 'You know, that gives them greater legitimacy than they seem to merit," he said.

"Why would you call (Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-)Zarqawi and his people insurgents against a legitimate Iraqi government with their own constitution. Do they have broad popular support in that country? No."

When General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, couldn't think of a better word than insurgents to use at a Pentagon press conference, Rumsfeld jumped in.

"Enemies of the legitimate Iraqi government. How's that?" he said.

Webster's New International Dictionary defines "insurgency" as "a condition of revolt against a legitimate government, not reaching the proportions of an organized revolutionary government, and not recognized as a belligerency."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051129/pl_afp/usiraqrumsfeld

[VaYallaDawg]

1. Maybe that's code ?

Maybe now, they're going to decide that the "real" enemy is North Korea? No, ooops - Iran? Or what about Venezuela? These freaks.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. More wordsmithing from the spinmeisters

We're now engaged with the EOTLIG? Gimme a break.

Epiphany this, shitbird.

[sabra]

3. Isn't Zarqawi from Jordan, and only 5% of the "insurgency" is foreign

nice try Rummy, nice try... The man is totally out of his mind.

[Orsino]

4. Poof! No more insurgency!

That was easy. Why haven't we had Rumsfeld in charge of everything?

Think what he could do about the deficit, unemployment and pollution.

[renegade000]

7. i now deem

the deficit: a sign of healthy and vibrant government spending

unemployment: robust growth in the job-seeking population

pollution: after effects of a strong industrial economy

[brer cat]

18. lol, renegade, good one!

How about

no child left behind: we'll send them ALL to Iraq

[daleo]

5. It looks like Rumsfeld should have no problem with "insurgents"

I prefer "forces in opposition to illegal invasion and occupation", if Rummy wants to get wordy about it.

On edit - The headline "Rumsfeld suppresses "insurgent"" makes it sound like he actually picked up a gun and went on patrol in Baghdad. Naturally, he was just disputing the dictionary, though. Better watch it Rummy, some of those dictionaries can get pretty big.

[muryan]

6. not surprising

rumsfeld has an extraordinarny handling on the english language.

[SillyGoose]

8. OMG...this reads like a piece straight out of the Onion.

A team of the best comedy writers could not possibly come up with this material. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[Jacobin]

9. I thought the exact same thing

Maybe Rumsfailed can write for them when he's in jail

[MissMarple]

10. Rumsfeld today...that was sad.

And some of the reporters pushed past his flippant non responses to questions. Rumsfeld tried to stop one question about an article in the New York Times, and the reporter listened to him and kept on going to ask his question. It was about the Army's use of white phosphorous. Rumsfeld lateraled to Peter Pace, and Pace said white phosphorous is an incendiary weapon not chemical.

Is that true? Phosphorous? Can't chemicals be incendiary?

[daleo]

11. And nerve gas is just a tranquilizer, to settle your nerves

Chlorine gas is just a disinfectant really.

[Kagemusha]

22. He just means it's not a "chemical weapon" i.e. poison.

It just burns you to death in a particularly horrific manner.

Doesn't that make you feel better now?

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. When I took chemistry

phosphorous was considered a chemical. I remember my chem teacher loved to show off the phosphorous.

[thebigidea]

12. calling him a human gives him greater legitimacy than he seems to merit

friggin' vampire.

[cyberpj]

13. I'm reminded of Lovitz's SNL character..."yeeaahhh...THAT's the ticket!"

Pathological Liars Anonymous
Tommy Flanagan.....Jon Lovitz

Announcer: And now, a message from Pathological Liars Anonymous.



Tommy Flanagan: Hello, my name is Tommy Flanagan, and I'm a member of Pathological Liars Anonymous. In fact.. I'm the president of the organization! I didn't always lie. No, when I was a kid, I told the truth. But then one day, I got caught stealing money out of my mother's purse. I lied. I told her it was homework -that my teacher told me to do it. And she got fired! Yeah, that's what happened! After that, lying was easy for me.

I lied about my age and joined the army. I was thirteen at the time. Yeah.. I went to Vietnam, and I was injured catching a mortar shell in my teeth. And they made me a three-star general! And then I got a job in journalism, writing for the National Enquire.. er, Geographic! Yeah.. I was making twenty thousand a ye.. month! In fact, I won the Pulitzer Prize that year! Yeah, that's the ticket.

And then my cousin died - Joe Louis - and I took it hard. Maybe too hard - I tried to kill myself. Yeahh.. I did kill myself! Sure! I was medically dead for a week and a half! It was a woman that brought me out of it - Indira Gandhi! Yeah, right.. And she told me about Pathological Liars Anonymous. Oh, you'd be surprised how many famous people belong. In fact.. at one of the meetings I met my wife - Morgan Fairchild! Yes, I'm a change man now, and all because of Pathological Liars Anonymous. Why, I - I even have my picture on the cover of Newsweek magazine. Yeah. Every day! Yeah.. that's the ticket! Yeah, you betcha!

[pinto]

14. When the Sec. of Defense says it's really all about what you call it...

you know we're in trouble. And it's sort of telling on the Administration's mind set...

This guy has a serious role in the government. He's not a talking head on TV. This is real life for a lot of people who are effected by his decisions. An epiphany on terminology? Great. Glad you thought that one through.

Let's try "exit".

[MountainLaurel]

15. Good. Grief.

Apparently if you don't call them insurgents, then *poof* they'll all go away.

[cliss]

30. He wishes.

RumsFailed wishes they would all go away. His prayers are about to not be granted, however.

Rummie is looking very tired these days. He's discouraged. He's fed up that people, even generals, historians, political science experts are calling him "incompetent". Man, that hurts.

It hurts so much, that he even came out last week and claimed that "he didn't really want this war". It was a feeble excuse, and nobody bought it. You see, they all read the PNAC documents which have Rumsfeld's signature on the bottom. So much for that flimsy alibi.

The fact is, Rumsfool is a very wealthy man. He was worth about $134 million before he started as Sec of defense in 2000. Just imagine what he is worth now.

Rummie wants to spend some of that money. Kick back with a cold one, just relax. Instead of arguing with these goddamn reporters. He's got money! He doesn't need these fools who won't accept reality, even after he explains it. Rummie is going on 75 years old. He's old. He feels that he's earned some vacation time. Guess what, Don? It ain't gonna happen.

[deminks]

16. I don't think that was an epiphany, Rummy, I think that was

flatulence.

[Demeter]

19. ROFL!

Thanks for the comic relief!

[Canuckistanian]

29. LOL, yeah, brain flatulence

Good one.

[AuntiBush]

17. Seems to me

Someone finally told Rummy the American people are on to that word, "insurgent," since most Americans know the war was and still is based on lies, greed for oil, world domination, etc., etc.

[Disturbed]

20. Any person in Iraq that is against the US/UK Occupation is a

Terrorist. Any Iraqis that are killed by US/UK Forces is a Terrorist. It
is really that simple.

Iraqi Insurgency

In January 2005 Iraqi intelligence service director General Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani said that Iraq's insurgency consited of at least 40,000 hardcore fighters, out of a total of more than 200,000 part-time fighters and volunteers who provide intelligence, logistics and shelter. Shahwani said the resistance enjoyed wide backing in the Sunni provinces of Baghdad, Babel, Salahuddin, Diyala, Nineveh and Tamim. Shahwani said the Baath, with a core fighting strength of more than 20,000, had split into three factions.

The main one, still owing allegiance to jailed dictator Saddam Hussein, is operating out of Syria. It is led by Saddam's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and former aide Mohamed Yunis al-Ahmed, who provide funding to their connections in Mosul, Samarra, Baquba, Kirkuk and Tikrit. Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri is still in Iraq. Two other factions have broken from Saddam, but have yet to mount any attacks. Islamist factions range from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda affiliate to Ansar al-Sunna and Ansar al-Islam.

A picture of the composition of the insurgency, though in constant flux, has come into somewhat greater focus. London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates roughly 1,000 foreign Islamic jihadists have joined the insurgency. And there is no doubt many of these have had a dramatic effect on perceptions of the insurgency through high-profile video-taped kidnappings and beheadings. However, American officials believe that the greatest obstacles to stability are the native insurgents that predominate in the Sunni triangle. Significantly, many secular Sunni leaders were being surpassed in influence by Sunni militants. This development mirrors the rise of militant Shia cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr vis-à-vis the more moderate Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_insurge...

[AuntiBush]

38. I'm sure we wouldn't like it one bit.

Neither did our founding ancestors - the originators of this country.

War of Independence, and so on. People forget history.

[dave29]

21. the meaning of insurgency

is a known unknowable in a world of knowing unknowns

[Don Claybrook]

34. Not true, not true. You can't know whether you know known unknowns

Everyone knows that. And we know where the insurgency is. It's in the areas to the north, west, and east of Tikrit.

[dave29]

37. those may be the facts on the ground

but they are certainly not the facts in my head.

hehe

[hippywife]

23. Look in the mirror, Rummy!

"Why would you call (Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-)Zarqawi and his people insurgents against a legitimate Iraqi government with their own constitution. Do they have broad popular support in that country? No."

Do the US/UK have broad popular support in that country? Hmmmmm? I'm waiting. NO!!

[pinniped]

24. I always referred to them as so-called insurgents.

.

[tledford]

25. Okay, I'll say what we're all thinking...

How about "freedom fighters?"

Jeez, all of these old white men would have a stroke.

:-)

[freedomburn]

26. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

The insurgency is enemies of the legitimate Iraqi government.

Rumsfeld is capabple of an epiphany.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

28. Gag me. Enemies of the legitimate Iraqi government?

That's the US, ain't it?

[rodeodance]

31. rummy needs to focus on serious matters!

[DemonFighterLives]

32. Rummy needs to see a shrink

He cannot understand reality anymore.
You shock and awe innocent people and you create the insurgency.
:freak:

[6000eliot]

33. Do these idiots think none of us read 1984 in high school?

[tuvor]

35. If they'd spent as much time planning the war ...

...as fretting over what to call things, they might not look so foolish.

(Not that the bush's war itself is mitigated.)

[Gman]

36. Insurgents rarely have "broad popular support"

initially. Their support builds. When they win, you can't find anyone that didn't support them.

[atommom]

39. Really, it all depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.

:eyes:

[bpilgrim]

40. whatta GENIUS!

like when he banned digital cameras from our gulags



peace

[0007]

41. The new name shall be........

We shall now call the insurgents, the insurrectionist but I doubt that junior could pronounce the word correctly. I'd love to hear him try.

[lovuian]

42. Action Speaks louder than words!!!

Bush has made Words meaningless!!!

[arwalden]

43. Reminds Me Of The Old "Homicide Bomber" vs "Suicide Bomber" Nonsense!

:eyes:

When they start splitting hairs over such idiotic things, it's clear that they know they're in trouble.