Will Rumsfeld Duck the Hard Questions Again This Weekend?
Will Rumsfeld Duck the Hard Questions Again This Weekend?
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will be getting plenty of face-time this weekend. He will be appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week, and Fox News Sunday. The last time Secretary Rumsfeld made such an extended trip on the TV circuit, he ducked almost every difficult question he was posed. The media shouldn’t fall for the bumbling Rumsfeld routine this weekend and should press him for specifics about an Iraq policy that sorely needs a change of course.
Here are some of Rumsfeld’s best “I don’t know” moments from last February:
SCHIEFFER: You say there are thousands. How many of them [insurgents] are there?
RUMSFELD: I don’t know.
[CBS, Face the Nation, 2/6/05]SCHIEFFER: Well, if we don’t know, if we can’t even estimate how many of them there are, how will we ever defeat them?
RUMSFELD: I don’t know that that’s necessary.
[CBS, Face the Nation, 2/6/05]SCHIEFFER: Well, has it tipped yet?
RUMSFELD: I don’t know.
[CBS, Face the Nation, 2/6/05]FRIEDMAN: Does Iran have nuclear weapons?
RUMSFELD: Don’t know.
[CBS, Face the Nation, 2/6/05]SCHIEFFER: But do you think they have the capability to do it in a couple of years?
RUMSFELD: I don’t know.
[CBS, Face the Nation, 2/6/05]
FRIEDMAN: Mr. Secretary, would you like to see long-term U.S. bases in Iraq?
RUMSFELD: In Iraq?
FRIEDMAN: Yes.
RUMSFELD: Oh, I have no idea.
[CBS, Face the Nation, 2/6/05]STEPHANOPOULOS: How long will it take to get enough of those various security forces to secure the country internally? Our military analyst Tony Cordesman says it’s going to take at least through 2006.
RUMSFELD: Well, it’s interesting to me that some people think they know that, because it’s not knowable.
[ABC, This Week, 2/6/05]STEPHANOPOULOS: But do you believe that a limited strike could cause a regime to topple?
RUMSFELD: Who knows? Who knows?
[ABC, This Week, 2/6/05]STEPHANOPOULOS: Are there US military operations going on in Iran right now?
RUMSFELD: Not to my knowledge.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you would know, wouldn’t you?
RUMSFELD: Probably. But not to my knowledge.
[ABC, This Week, 2/6/05]RUSSERT: Why not give the Iraqis benchmarks that “In six months, we’re going to withdraw 50,000 troops. You better have 50,000 troops ready to replace them”?
RUMSFELD: It is misleading people to think that you know something you don’t know. And we know we don’t know.
[NBC, Meet the Press, 2/6/05]RUSSERT: The Iraqi intelligence services director said that the insurgency is larger than the U.S. Army; it is more than 200,000 people. Is he right?
RUMSFELD: Who said that?
RUSSERT: The–Mohammad Abdul Sussami, the Iraqi Intelligence Service director, on January 3, 2005. He’s a general.
RUMSFELD: Yeah, I’ve never seen that number, and I don’t know where it came from.
[NBC, Meet the Press, 2/6/05]BLITZER: But did [the soldier's question about lack of equipment] accelerate the process?
RUMSFELD: I think it’s important for a secretary of defense to go out there and meet with the troops and let them ask anything they want. I don’t know.
[CNN, Late Edition, 2/6/05]
And the fitting ending…
KING: How do you explain, by the way, being successful all your life in business and public life and at the same time always being direct?
RUMSFELD: I don’t know. But I do tend to be direct, and I think I owe that to people.
[CNN, Larry King, 2/3/05]
For more on Rumsfeld’s evasive maneuvers, read Dana Milbank’s 2/17/05 column in the Washington Post.
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See if he gets any hard questions or just thrown softball to promote futher rhetoric.
June 24th, 2005 at 1:53 pmHey, Rummy makes Dumbya look like a freakin’ genius.
It is a very sad state of affairs to realize that this moron is the Secretary of Defense (his defense).
Theresa
June 24th, 2005 at 2:02 pmWomen US soldiers were killeed Iraaqnam today. It’s getting more and more ridiculous as time goes by.
Let the slaughter march on. Only ten more years to go before the withdrawal of Ameriican forces. The death toll will have to pick up some, but we’re on our way.
Sisty thousand dead US forces to go, then we can come home. Hooray
Rumsfeld will be able to say, ‘harumph’ a few more times on tv.
The war is lost, but not over.
June 24th, 2005 at 2:04 pm‘Iraqnam’ and ’sixty’
I need my glasses.
June 24th, 2005 at 2:06 pmWhy don’t the reporters say, Secretary Rumsfeld, you haven’t answered my question, or why don’t you know? I’d use up my whole segment with twenty questions as to why doesn’t he know. I wouldn’t care if he never came on my show again since it’s a huge waste of time. Rummy just wants to be able to say he’s been talking to the press all along. What I think we would see from Rummy if he were pressed to any degree is the snarling, evil monster he really is. Did you see his face after Sen. Kennedy asked him if it wasn’t time for him to resign? He wanted to go over the desk after Kennedy!
June 24th, 2005 at 2:33 pmYou want to know when the troops can come home?
June 24th, 2005 at 2:51 pmWhen we get a new admistration 08 or in bodybags til then.
Ted Kennedy really gave it to Rummy on c-span last night.
Of course when asked to resign the moron refused.
A republican owns the radio station I do my show on.
He is making more and more comments against Bushco and to me, that in itself is progress.
He really let Rummy have it this morning..He said “Rumsfeld, you’ve outlived your usefulness”. “Resign now!”…
It was good to hear that we are making a difference and changing the minds of crusty ol farts.
June 24th, 2005 at 3:27 pmNo Apologies, New Polls and Prison Torture
Here’s the Friday update. Title pretty much nails the topics. So far. Check back. More to come.
June 24th, 2005 at 3:51 pmIf Rumsfeld hadn’t sold the weapons to Iraq, and encouraged them to use them in the 80s, he wouldn’t have even had an excuse to go to war. Funny how the guy who creates the first set of problems from obvious incompetence is now in charge of creating a whole new set of problems…
June 24th, 2005 at 7:19 pmRyan,
June 25th, 2005 at 10:55 amRummy was hired because of his so-called incompetence…He is doing exactly as ordered by the (okay, I’m going to use a term you may not like and I will not apologize for it) NAZI REGIME!
“I don’t know.” How lame. He should have gone with:
“That information is classified. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you and all your viewers (or readers, as appropriate).”
June 25th, 2005 at 3:52 pmGreat blog. It’s nice to be here! Green is feature of Universal Pair: http://www.usatoday.com/news/front.htm , Do Increase Roll – that is all that Player is capable of Circle can Percieve Boy , Loose TV is very good TV Bad Player Steal or not
December 4th, 2005 at 1:09 pm