Updated with text from FoxNews
I just heard breaking news on the radio. So breaking that I can’t find it on CNN, FoxNews or AP’s websites. I’ll update this with text when it is available.
Donald Rumsfeld is calling President Obama out on statements made in last night’s speech. Apparently President Obama threw unspecified members of the military command under the bus (what else is new) in an effort to show that he’s not the only one to prevaricate on troop levels. Rumsfeld is calling him out on it and this could get interesting.
It just showed up on FoxNews’ website.
…former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday lashed out at President Obama for claiming the Bush administration rebuffed commanders’ repeated requests for more troops in Afghanistan.
In a rare break in his public silence since leaving the Pentagon, Rumsfeld rejected the claim as a “bald misstatement” and “disservice” that cannot go unanswered.
“Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as secretary of defense, deserves a response,” Rumsfeld said in a written statement. “I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006.”
The president leveled the charge in his speech Tuesday night outlining his plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops into Afghanistan.
“Throughout this period, our troop levels in Afghanistan remained a fraction of what they were in Iraq,” Obama said. “Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.”
The former Pentagon chief said the White House should make public any such requests if they exist to back up the allegation.
“The president’s assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan,” Rumsfeld said.
He urged Congress to review the claim in the upcoming debate to “determine exactly what requests were made, who made them, and where and why in the chain of command they were denied.”
Apparently there were others who weren’t fans. Here is what Der Speigel thought of it:
Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America’s new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric — and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.
One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama’s speech would be well-received.
Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond “enthusiastically” to the speech. But it didn’t help: The soldiers’ reception was cool.
One didn’t have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama’s speech. It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.
An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan — and then they will march right back out again. America is going to war — and from there it will continue ahead to peace. It was the speech of a Nobel War Prize laureate.
Just in Time for the Campaign
For each troop movement, Obama had a number to match. US strength in Afghanistan will be tripled relative to the Bush years, a fact that is sure to impress hawks in America. But just 18 months later, just in time for Obama’s re-election campaign, the horror of war is to end and the draw down will begin. The doves of peace will be let free.
The speech continued in that vein. It was as though Obama had taken one of his old campaign speeches and merged it with a text from the library of ex-President George W. Bush. Extremists kill in the name of Islam, he said, before adding that it is one of the “world’s great religions.” He promised that responsibility for the country’s security would soon be transferred to the government of President Hamid Karzai — a government which he said was “corrupt.” The Taliban is dangerous and growing stronger. But “America will have to show our strength in the way that we end wars,” he added.
It was a dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal, of marching to and fro. The fast pace was reminiscent of plays about the French revolution: Troops enter from the right to loud cannon fire and then they exit to the left. And at the end, the dead are left on stage.
Obama’s Magic No Longer Works
But in this case, the public was more disturbed than entertained. Indeed, one could see the phenomenon in a number of places in recent weeks: Obama’s magic no longer works. The allure of his words has grown weaker.
It is not he himself who has changed, but rather the benchmark used to evaluate him. For a president, the unit of measurement is real life. A leader is seen by citizens through the prism of their lives — their job, their household budget, where they live and suffer. And, in the case of the war on terror, where they sometimes die.
Political dreams and yearnings for the future belong elsewhere. That was where the political charmer Obama was able to successfully capture the imaginations of millions of voters. It is a place where campaigners — particularly those with a talent for oration — are fond of taking refuge. It is also where Obama set up his campaign headquarters, in an enormous tent called “Hope.”
In his speech on America’s new Afghanistan strategy, Obama tried to speak to both places. It was two speeches in one. That is why it felt so false. Both dreamers and realists were left feeling distraught.
The American president doesn’t need any opponents at the moment. He’s already got himself.
I am very surprised by the reaction in Germany. I believe Axelrod and Obama overplayed their hand with the Brandenburg gate speech during the campaign and the German elites are punishing him. This is very promising. I think England may be a lost cause so we need some more allies in the region. France is showing promise and Poland and the Czech Republics will grow into Conservative powers in time.
If Rummy gets riled up between him and Cheney they could be fighting over Obama’s wish bone…which would be freaking awesome.
Love that image, Stephanie!
Depends on what the meaning of “requests” is, to borrow an argument from Slick Willy.
The problem is this, Rummy, anal retentive to the point of insanity WROTE EVERYTHING DOWN! If Obama has proof then he ought to show it. He pulled shite out of the air and now he has to face the fact that people who were there will call his boney butt out on it.
Stephanie,
You are right and there are two additional components to this:
1. The Bush people (and I know Rumsfeld was gone already) were extraordinarily generous and professional with the change over to the new administration. They bent over backwards to help the new team as much as possible, and they did not play politics. But on January 21st the new administration started using the prior administration’s team as scape goats for anything and everything. Those people are fed up. As the saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
2. Many of the people currently serving in our military served under the prior administration and Rumsfeld. They know how classy and professional the prior administration was, and they know how different things are now. President Obama is foolish to keep beating up on the old administration, he is maligning the same people currently serving under him and they will get pissed if he doesn’t stop. Let’s say the hapless Bears dump Lovie Smith this week and they hire a new coach. If the new coach loses his first game and blames the players at the press conference, well, the same guys laying it all on the line for you this week are the guys who laid it all on the line for Lovie. How are you going to rally them by beating up on Lovie, or the guys who played under Lovie?
This guy is so naive it is almost unbelievable. He is a hot house flower who has lived a ridiculously sheltered life.
In re: point 1, Rufus -
On Obama’s first day in the Oval Office he apparently found three sealed envelopes and is still working the first one. Leave us hope he gets to the third by October 2012.
…and they had been kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall’s porch until noon that day.
Don’t give Rummy too much love. He isn’t exactly well regarded but about
this he is right. Obama is playing he will lose if he starts this with Rummy.
Rummy isn’t a man to take this crap laying down. Piss him off and Cheney
and it will be ugly.
Obama has lied so many times ,he actually believes his own lies .He deserves every reprocussion that hits him in the face. BUT one of his speech writers or advisers will make it out to be a mistaken worded phrase of some kind.
BET ON IT!