SecDef Donald Rumsfeld has flown into Mosul for Christmas Eve.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld visited wounded soldiers and brought holiday greetings on Christmas Eve amid tight security at an air base in northern Iraq where an insurgent’s attack killed 14 U.S. troops and eight other people earlier this week.Hoping to demonstrate compassion for the troops’ sacrifices, Rumsfeld landed in darkness and walked immediately from his plane to a combat surgical hospital where many of the bombing victims were treated after Tuesday’s lunchtime attack on a mess tent. The most seriously wounded already have been transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.
Out of concern for security, Rumsfeld’s aides went to unusual lengths to keep his visit a secret prior to his arrival, with only a few reporters and one TV crew accompanying him on an overnight flight from Washington.
In an interview aboard the C-17 cargo plane that brought him to Mosul, Rumsfeld said he’d been planning to visit U.S. troops here long before Tuesday’s deadly attack, believed to have been carried out by a suicide bomber.
“The focus of the trip is to thank the troops and wish them a Merry Christmas,” he said.
Read the rest of the AP report for a sterling example of witless slanted reporting. Then read historian Victor Davis Hanson for genuine insight about Rumsfeld's importance.
Rumsfeld is, of course, a blunt and proud man, and thus can say things off the cuff that in studied retrospect seem strikingly callous rather than forthright. No doubt he has chewed out officers who deserved better. And perhaps his quip to the scripted, not-so-impromptu question was not his best moment. But his resignation would be a grave mistake for this country at war, for a variety of reasons.The blame with this war falls not with Donald Rumsfeld. We are more often the problem — our mercurial mood swings and demands for instant perfection devoid of historical perspective about the tragic nature of god-awful war. Our military has waged two brilliant campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. There has been an even more inspired postwar success in Afghanistan where elections were held in a country deemed a hopeless Dark-Age relic. A thousand brave Americans gave their lives in combat to ensure that the most wicked nation in the Middle East might soon be the best, and the odds are that those remarkable dead, not the columnists in New York, will be proven right — no thanks to post-facto harping from thousands of American academics and insiders in chorus with that continent of appeasement Europe.
Out of the ashes of September 11, a workable war exegesis emerged because of students of war like Don Rumsfeld: Terrorists do not operate alone, but only through the aid of rogue states; Islamicists hate us for who we are, not the alleged grievances outlined in successive and always-metamorphosing loony fatwas; the temper of bin Laden's infomercials hinges only on how bad he is doing; and multilateralism is not necessarily moral, but often an amoral excuse either to do nothing or to do bad — ask the U.N. that watched Rwanda and the Balkans die or the dozens of profiteering nations who in concert robbed Iraq and enriched Saddam.
Donald Rumsfeld is no Les Aspin or William Cohen, but a rare sort of secretary of the caliber of George Marshall. I wish he were more media-savvy and could ape Bill Clinton's lip-biting and furrowed brow. He should, but, alas, cannot. Nevertheless, we will regret it immediately if we drive this proud and honest-speaking visionary out of office, even as his hard work and insight are bringing us ever closer to victory.
You can also read Rumsfeld's own words for yourself.
Secretary of Defense's 2004 Holiday Message to the TroopsPosted by Alan at December 23, 2004 09:26 PMThis is the time of year when we want to give special recognition to the men and women in uniform -- volunteers all -- who defend our Nation and the cause of freedom.
But it is appropriate to go beyond a usual holiday message to put in context what is taking place at this time in our country's history. What the men and women in uniform are doing today will prove to be a pivotal chapter in the history of America's meaning and mission.
Since this great Republic's founding, Americans have stood at liberty's front lines. In its earliest days, the United States was the world's only democratic nation. But as the centuries have passed, the audacious and powerful ideals of freedom and self-determination that defined the American experiment have swept across the world.
We have seen it in recent times, in nearly every region of the world:
• in the joy of reunited Germans dancing atop the crumbling Berlin Wall;
• in the face of the lone young man who stood defiantly before the line of tanks in Tiananmen Square;
• in the millions of Afghan women who braved violence and intimidation to cast their votes in Afghanistan's first-ever democratic presidential election;
• in today's passionate debate over free and fair elections in Ukraine; and
• in the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have volunteered to come to their newly liberated nation's defense.These momentous events would not have been likely had it not been for the daring and determination of America's founders, and for each of the many generations of Americans that followed who kept the flame of liberty alive at home and nurtured it abroad. This is the meaning and mission of America – and no one is more important to that mission than the American soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine.
In these difficult and trying times, I ask our men and women in uniform to remember this: There is perhaps no greater calling in life than what you are doing -- standing on freedom's front lines. And there could be no finer legacy to bestow to future generations than being part of our nation's forward strategy for freedom and contributing to a safer and more peaceful world.
So to all of you who are serving our nation -- I thank you for your courage. I thank you for your commitment. And to your families and loved ones, I extend my deepest appreciation for your sacrifices. And to all of those who have lost loved ones in this global struggle against extremism, and to all of those recovering from the wounds of battle, know that all who have served our country have been part of something that history and future generations of Americans will honor for decades to come.
Please also know I am deeply grateful to you and that you have my full respect. You have my very best wishes for the holiday season.
- Donald H. Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense