U.S. military too strong to lose Iraq war: Rumsfeld

[Barrett808]

U.S. military too strong to lose Iraq war: Rumsfeld
By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday the U.S. military is too strong to lose the war in Iraq, but ultimately political solutions will be needed to win.

"You've got a situation where it's not possible to lose militarily," Rumsfeld said. "It's also going to require more than military power to prevail."

Rumsfeld, in comments to reporters at the Pentagon, said U.S. training of security forces in Iraq had been "rushed" but that placing U.S. trainers within the Iraqi police force would gradually boost Iraq's ability to reduce violence on its own.

Still, he said, Iraq's parliament needs to resolve the issue of federalism and create a unity government to squash the violence that plagues much of Iraq and has frustrated U.S. efforts to begin withdrawing troops.

"It's going to take all those things together," Rumsfeld said.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061017/ts_nm/iraq_usa_rumsfeld_dc

[babylonsister]

1. Totally delusional. nt

[saigon68]

29. "BRING EM ON" shouted the DRAFT DODGING CHIMPANZEE

[bigdarryl]

2. This dumb fuck is not on the same planet as we are

HEY Rummy we already lost Iraq you stupid ASS

[C_U_L8R]

3. That's what Rome said

[krispos42]

30. King George III, circa 1783

In Iraq, we will win every tactical engagement, accomplish our strategic military goals, and lose the war anyway. This is because every war ends in a negotiated peace and an occupation of the defeated country, then the occupation ends in a withdrawal.

We have an administration that is terrible at negotiation, foreign or domestic, and believes with dogmatic intensity that all withdrawals are defeats. Therefore, we will never 'win'.

<edit: forgot some necessary adjectives lol>

[teryang]

4. "it's not possible to lose militarily"

This will go down in history with light at the end of the tunnel. This goes along with the machismo delusion that we didn't lose the war in Vietnam. The concommitant (fascist) delusion is that it was the "fifth column" at home that lost that war. Hitler and the storm troopers blamed the WWI loss and the destruction of their economy on the same bullshit. When you lose a war it's always someone else's fault.

[krispos42]

31. Victory has 1,000 fathers. Defeat is an orphan. n/t

[KittyWampus]

49. That is true. The Loss will be because of Diplomatic failure not military

[Efilroft Sul]

53. Rumsfeld's setting up a future Republican argument.

It echoes the Vietnam era, where the Republicans blamed the Democratic Congress for losing the war.

I think Rumsfeld and the Republicans know they're going to lose the Congress; many races are outside the margin of error for Diebold to save their sorry asses. Therefore, they're going to fall back on an argument nearly 35 years old and hope that it carries the day for them until the 2008 elections.

It won't.

[JoFerret]

5. Go pulversize a squash ball, loser.

.

[MGD]

6. 2 bad that strength was bound as soon as GWB claimed mission accomplished

[Twillig]

7. It's not possible to lose a fight with a meat grinder either.

Provided it's not your arm in the meat grinder.

[Monkeyman]

8. You broke it you fix it

[Harper_is_Bush]

9. He just doesn't get it.

[Anakin Skywalker]

10. Is Dummy Just an Optimist?

Or a total LIAR?!

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. I'll go with LIAR!

[wellst0nev0ter]

11. ARMY STRONG!!!

ARMY MAD!

ARMY SMASH THINGS!

[anotherdrew]

16. ARMY STRONGEST-ONE-OF-ALL! ARMY SMASH! PUNY COUNTRY!!!

YA KNOW, rummy does kinda look like The Leader, and... check out this bio of The Leader (one of the hulks clasic nemesi)... I've added a few comments in bold...

The Leader
Real Name: Donald Rumsfeld
Occupation: Would-be conqueror
Identity: Publicly known
Legal Status: United States citizen with a criminal record
Other Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Boise, Idaho

Known Superhuman Powers
The Leader possesses no superhuman physical powers, but his mutated brain possesses intelligence that is many times that of genius level{or so he says anyway}. The Leader possesses total recall of every event he has witnessed since the accident in which he was mutated. His right-cerebrum higher brain functions, including pattern recognition, information storage and retrieval, and logical and philosophical structuring, have been enhanced to inhuman levels. His intuitive left-cerebrum functions have been enhanced to the point that his hunches are almost always correct.{or so he says anyway}

Limitations
The Leader's most serious weaknesses are his immaturity and impatience; several times his malevolent selfishness has caused him to lose sight of necessary precautions, or he has acted prematurely, causing the ruin of his schemes. Lately his egotism has led him to embark on mad, impractical schemes to turn the rest of humanity into green-skinned beings like himself.

Weapons and Paraphernalia
The Leader has devised a large array of technologically advanced weaponry and computer systems to help him with his criminal activities. He has developed a means for telepathically controlling the Hulk and the Rhino. One example of the Leader's work was the construction of a robot programmed to bring the Leader back to life in the event of his death.

The Leader has developed an army of varied so-called "humanoids," which are actually robots constructed from unusually tough plastics and with versatile programming capacities to enable them to perform any task{or so he says anyway}. These robots, however, have little if any capacity for independent thought{that's true}. These robots' bodies have extraordinary elasticity, enabling them to absorb impacts or to stretch harmlessly with them{if only it were so, but yet, he thinks it is}. These "humanoids" have served the Leader throughout his career of attempted world domination.

[wellst0nev0ter]

19. Oh God. . .

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[anotherdrew]

21. and now an image: rumsfeld as 'the Leader' ...

[bowens43]

12. Someone needs to tell this to the insurgents.

Apparently they're not aware that they're not kicking our asses.

[Canuckistanian]

13. If you're fighting tanks, planes and ships, yes

But when you're fighting an entire population that's pissed at your occupying it, then no.

Ok, back to school with you Rummy.

Lesson one: Vi-et-nam, cmon, say it with me, Vi-et-nam, good!

[anotherdrew]

14. all it takes to lose is for the costs to be too high, and they are n/t

[LonelyLRLiberal]

15. Oh, yeah, Mr. Smarty Pants, it isn't your ass getting killed or maimed.

and by the way, we were militarily able to "win" in Vietnam, too, but some prices are just too high to pay. Idiot!

[BeHereNow]

17. Translation: "I don't care how many soldiers die..."

"...and now that we have destroyed the economy and
all hope among American youth for any sort of future
other than enlisting in the military, we can wage this war for decades!
AND we are experiencing record enlistment numbers from
the youth from other countries, so hey, NO PROBLEM."

BHN:mad:

[Thor_MN]

18. What a dumbass. The only solution to "win" this anymore would be

to basically sterilize the country of Iraq. Leave no living creature. The Iraqi culture being created from Bush's clusterfuck will be to seek revenge for this latest crusade to invade thier country. It make take decades, even centuries for it to grow and bite back, but it will. Bush has created a threat far greater than a tinpot dictator that posed no threat to the US.

[Ninja Jordan]

20. What the hell does that even MEAN?

What a doofus

[MrScorpio]

22. Someone needs to tell dumbfuck that the war is already lost

Like he would listen

[cliss]

23. Why is this Idiot still there?

I mean, what is it going to take to throw this man out???

[Rex]

24. Of all the asinine things to say.

Rummy is an American disgrace.

[davepc]

25. U.S. military too strong to lose Vietnam war: McNamara

[sofa king]

35. Since none of these guys went to Vietnam, none of them remember it.

[phrenzy]

26. rrrrrrrrr - army STRONG!! (n/t)

[Solly Mack]

38. LMAO

If they only knew how badly that new slogan was being mocked by the troops...

[louis-t]

55. I have a feeling that slogan will disappear quicker than

a bag of donuts at Denny Hastert's house.

[Breeze54]

27. You spelled his name wrong. It's 'Rumsfailed'!

;)

[Matilda]

28. They thought the same thing about Vietnam.

The theory didn't hold up then either.

[w4rma]

32. Not after what you have done to our military, you SOB Rumsfailed. (nt)

[SKKY]

33. The Military will receive the smallest pay raise in 13 years....

...keep treating your military like that, and you won't have much of a military left.

[DemoTex]

34. Viet Nam, Rummy?

Remember?

[Nickster]

36. Excuse me Mr. McNamara.....oh I mean Mr. Rumsfeld......n/t

[Barrett808]

41. Have you ever seen the two of them together in the same room? n/t

[Nickster]

48. Exactly! I saw McNamara's documentary and I couldn't help thinking

how much he looked like Rumsfeld and how I feel that Rumsfeld will be doing the same kind of documentary years from now saying how wrong he was but powerless to do anything.

[Barrett808]

50. McNamara sure seemed pretty casual about US "war crimes" in WWII

I guess it's a good thing for him that we won, eh?

[One_Life_To_Give]

37. English army too strong to loose colonies

Nope never heard nything like this before.

[Az_lefty]

40. Silly old man, it's not about strength...

it's about strategy, planning and logistics and in these areas the bush cabal is a total failure! :grr:

[AnneD]

42. DE PLANE DE PLANE

cue the music and the hula girls...this guy is on Fantasy Island.

[Renew Deal]

43. It has nothing to do with military strength.

We can be in Iraq forever and not "lose." The only winning solution is leaving.

[JoFerret]

44. Out of the loop: "We've lost the battle for Baghdad"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1926809,00.html


The bleak assessment arrives as official thinking appears to be shifting on the war

Such a strategy would once have been unthinkable for Mr Bush, who famously vowed to keep US forces in Iraq even if he was supported only by his wife, Laura, and dog, Barney.

[samsingh]

45. the military might be, but the leaders are stupid and incompetant

imagine that we are even talking about the military of the only remaining super power losing in a small, contained country like iraq. boggles the mind that it has come to this.

[Occulus]

46. Khan: Mongolian army too strong to be stopped by wall n/t

[Robeson]

47. His mouth moves, but I just don't listen anymore....

...I have absolutely no interest in anything he says.

[librechik]

51. Hubris Hubris Hubris--Pride goeth before a fall

what a dick Donald is

[BenDavid]

52. Excuse me there Donald,

but if all you got over in Iraq today is one big cluster fuck, then how are our soldiers expected to win this damn conflict. More and more this is Nam redux. It's time for protests to begin happening. It's time again to hit the streets and force this damn administration to save our soldiers and save this once great country....Latest poll I saw was the 65% disapproved of the Iraq conflict....Now that should entice folks to begin marching and carrying signs.....

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

[Az_lefty]

54. Hey Rummy, the Pentagon just said we lost the battle for Baghdad..

but we haven't lost the War? :shrug:

[VegasWolf]

56. Yes, and Rummy got this straight from the mouth of God. nt