Rumsfeld's world - Rummy off the leash

Somebody let Rumsfeld off the leash.

Thursday at the National Press Club, he said that the war on terror

"could be a generational conflict akin to the Cold War, the kind of struggle that might last decades as allies work to root out terrorists across the globe and battle extremists who want to rule the world." 20 years, he said. Then he "likened al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin" (SF Chronicle for both)

At the same appearance, he also said, (Fox News)

"we've seen some populist leadership appealing to masses of people in those countries. And elections like Evo Morales in Bolivia take place that clearly are worrisome."

"I mean, we've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," Rumsfeld added. "He's a person who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally — and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others."

(by the way, do you see what he did there? He used the commutative property from my fifth grade math class. If Osama Bin Laden= Hitler, and Hugo Chavez=Hitler, then Hugo Chavez= Osama Bin Laden. Cute, huh?)

Also, at a press briefing, Rumsfeld had the balls to say about a war longer than either of the world wars, "Mr. Rumsfeld was asked by reporters at the Pentagon, "Is Iraq going to be a long war?" Mr. Rumsfeld answered, "No, I don't believe it is." (Washington Times)

Then we've got these two:

WASHINGTON — America has made progress in the War on Terror, but the threat today may be greater than ever before because the available weapons are far more dangerous (FoxNews, National Press Club)


And: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday the Pentagon had not done a good job in the information war against enemies like al Qaeda, saying U.S. personnel felt constrained partly due to fear of criticism in the media....

"And they (defense personnel) say, oh my goodness, if you do anything in that area, you get penalized because there's bad press, there's bad news, someone doesn't like it, there's a congressional hearing, the newspaper has it on the front page because it's about the media and the media likes to write about the media," Rumsfeld said.

"And our people are chilled and reticent and uncomfortable," Rumsfeld added.

Do you see that connection? We've failed to make you more safe, but it's the fault of the media for "constraining" the Pentagon by reporting illegal activities. Sweet, Don.

Lastly, let's end with this gem.

Rumsfeld seemed to suggest that hidden weapons of mass destruction might still turn up in Iraq.

"So I don't know what we'll find in the months and years ahead. It could be anything," Rumsfeld said.

I don't know, I just kept running across a bunch of weird headlines on Rumsfeld, and I thought I ought to put them all in one place.

Oh, and we're pulling troops out of Kosovo and Korea.