Timely criticism...

Finally, Republicans find something to differ on...





Dec. 15, 2006

President Bush praised Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's supervision of the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and his attempts to revamp the Pentagon bureaucracy. "I'm pleased with the progress we're making," Mr. Bush said during the interview in the Oval Office.

The President's praise was echoed by the Vice President.

"I believe the record speaks for itself - Don Rumsfeld is the finest secretary of defence this nation has ever had," Vice President Richard B Cheney said at today’s Pentagon farewell to Rumsfeld. Cheney said that Rumsfeld emanates loyalty, integrity and love for the United States and a devotion to its cause. “The record of the years 2001 to 2006 only confirms the good qualities and the gift for leadership that Don Rumsfeld has shown all his life,” the vice president said.

Cheney said, “Under Secretary Rumsfeld, we've struck major blows against the al Qaeda network that hit America," and added that under Rumsfeld’s leadership, the United States has toppled two totalitarian regimes, liberated 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, and “stood by young democracies as America always does."
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Feb. 21, 2007

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that British troops will begin withdrawing from Iraq would appear to be bad news for the Bush administration.

Blair said today that Britain will cut its forces in Iraq to 5,500 by summer, down from 7,100 currently. And additional cuts to as few as 5,000 British troops in Iraq are possible by the end of summer, Blair said.

President George W Bush views the plan to cut British forces to about 5,000 by the end of the summer as "a sign of success", according to a US National Security Council spokesman, Gordon Johndroe. Mr Bush spoke to the prime minister about the plans by video link yesterday, Mr Johndroe said.

The President added, "While the United Kingdom is maintaining a robust force in southern Iraq, we're pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they are able to transition more control to the Iraqis."

Vice President Cheney tells ABC News that British P.M.Tony Blair's just-announced troop reduction is a sign progress is being made in Iraq.

"Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," Cheney told ABC News' Jonathan Karl. Cheney added, "In fact, I talked to a friend just the other day who had driven to Baghdad down to Basra, seven hours, found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago, sort of validated the British view they had made progress in southern Iraq and that they can therefore reduce their force levels."

(Admin's note: Today we received the picture below from an obvious Democrat partisan who obviously doesn't drink from the same picture of Kool-aid as Bush and Cheney.)



(Admin's note: Even though I know the reader who send this picture severed his country honorably around the time that such patriots like President Bush and Vice President Bush were doing whatever it took to dodge the Vietnam draft, I'm not sure he has the credentials as Bush and Cheney to evaluate the war. Let's see what other members of the Armed Services had to say about Bush's former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the Iraq War.)

12/17/2007
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has joined the list of prominent figures speaking out bluntly against Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s handling of the war in Iraq.

Addressing the annual conference of the National School Board Association in Chicago on Saturday, Powell said: "We made some serious mistakes in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Baghdad.

"We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't impose our will. And as a result, an insurgency got started and ... got out of control."

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, senior commander during the 1991 Persian Gulf War criticized the Pentagon for providing inadequate armor protection for troops in Iraq.

(Admin's note: Of course, Powell and Schwarzkopf are military men. They try there best to stay above political partisanship, unlike our dear reader who sent us the above picture. Maybe it's time our reader wakes up and smells the bacon and understands Bush's war through the eyes of some highly respected political figures...)

12/17/2007
Former Senate majority leader Trent Lott from Mississippi joined a growing chorus of senators that include Chuck Hagel or Nebraska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine raised public concerns about the management of the war.

(Admin's note: Yes, I know that was two months ago. But, hey, aren't those three senators all Republicans? Tell me something new...)

2/20/2007
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday the war in Iraq has been mismanaged for years and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the worst in history.

”We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement - that’s the kindest word I can give you - of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war,” the Arizona senator told an overflow crowd of more than 800 at a retirement community near Hilton Head Island, S.C. ”The price is very, very heavy and I regret it enormously.”

McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, complained that Rumsfeld never put enough troops on the ground to succeed in Iraq. To applause, McCain added, ”I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.”

(Admin's note: And what does Vice President Cheney think of McCain's remarks?)

The vice president is on a week-long trip to Japan and Australia and gave a 10-minute interview to ABC’s Jonathan Karl aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, docked off the coast of Tokyo at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. Here is their exchange about McCain:

Karl: “You probably heard John McCain again come out and say that your friend Donald Rumsfeld is perhaps the worst secretary of defense ever. What do you make of that?"

Cheney: “I just fundamentally disagree with John. John said some nasty things about me the other day, and then next time he saw me, ran over to me and apologized. Maybe he'll apologize to Rumsfeld.”

(Admin's note: Our Vice President would certainly never say "nasty things." He is a diplomat of the highest standing. Below is a reminder of the kindness of his heart and the compassion he has for his fellow Americans.)

In an interview, he called McCain's comments "hogwash." He said the Bush administration will do whatever it damn well wants even if Congress and the American people don't support the actions.

This is the man who told Sen. Patrick Leahy to "fuck off" on the floor of the Senate, the one who advocates tossing journalists in jail if they dare question the illegal actions of the Bush administration and - as testimony in the perjury trial of his ex-chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby reveals - the man obsessed with destroying anyone who disagrees with the White House.

Dick Cheney is a spiteful, bitter, arrogant, vain little man who was tasked with helping Bush find a running mate in 2000 and managed to eliminate all candidates except himself. This worked perfectly for Bush, whose entire career is built on letting others run interference for him.

Cheney brought in Don Rumsfeld, another believer in absolute power in the executive branch.

Cheney and Rumseld bragged that Americans would be "welcomed as liberators" in Iraq. When it didn't happen, Cheney said "just wait. They will."

When Bush sacked Rumsfeld, White House insiders say Cheney got so mad he refused to speak to the President for weeks. But as Bush's popularity plunged and more and more Republicans defected from the madness of King George, Cheney found himself back in the inner circle as one of the few left who still backed the President's insanity.

Now Republicans wonder if the Vice President might not be as Looney-Tunes as the Prez.

Read more about The madness of Vice King Dick.

(Admin's note: Luckily, W and Dick have the Christian Right praying hard for them. I'm hoping they remember the other 300 million of us poor bastards in their prayers.)