Liberal Grace

Rumsfeld: a liar? a bungler? both?

Rumsfeld's memo was talked-to-death this weekend but I'd like to add my two cents.

If you unaware, this memo -- probably leaded by Rumsfeld himself -- shows that he knows we're losing in Iraq. Apparently he doesn't want to step off the world stage without correcting the general perception that he is one of the most incompetent, clueless, arrogant Secretaries of Defense ever to hold the office.

If Rumsfeld leaked this memo to boost his image, it failed on me:

1) It proves he's a liar -- a shameless, high-stakes liar. When he and the Whitehouse were telling us that America was winning in Iraq, they knew we were losing.

2) Knowing now is no great virtue. Everybody knows now that we are losing. (well, except Fox viewers). A competent Secretary of Defense should have known we were on the path to failure in summer of 2003. All the signs were present then, when there was still time to do something about it.

Some of us even knew before the invasion that this war would likely end in disaster. As we all remember, our voices got shouted down with taunts of "treason!"

I wouldn't call it "treason" but I would call it "betrayal" to tell America that we are winning a war when they know we're losing.

posted by LiberalGrace at 3:42 AM