The Wisdom of Mr. Donald Rumsfeld

Rummy, Rummy, Rummy, what are we gonna do with you?

There was a press conference yesterday at the Defense Department with Sec. Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This conference is wonderfully indicative of how great some of our military leaders are and how... not Mr. Rumsfeld is. Mr. Rumsfeld should stop appearing with human beings capable of basic compassion and intelligence; he just ends up looking bad.

Reporters turned the discussion to torture, a practice that happens regularly under Rummy's regime, and is something he apparently doesn't understand our policies on. Here is Rumsfeld answering a question on what U.S. forces can/should do to prevent Iraqi forces from using torture after we give them control... See if you can find the irony in the first part of this statement:

"Iraq knows, of certain knowledge, that they need the support of the international community. And a good way to lose it is to make a practice of something that's inconsistent with the values of the international community. I think they know that... Obviously the United States does not have a responsibility when a sovereign country engages in something that they disapprove of."

WOW.

That pretty much disputes the entire (current) rationale for the war, eh Rummy?

And here's a back and forth between Rumsfeld and Gen. Pace on handling torture incidents:
GEN. PACE: "It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it. As an example of how to do it if you don't see it happening but you're told about it is exactly what happened a couple weeks ago. There's a report from an Iraqi to a U.S. commander that there was possibility of inhumane treatment in a particular facility. That U.S. commander got together with his Iraqi counterparts. They went together to the facility, found what they found, reported it to the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi government has taken ownership of that problem and is investigating it. So they did exactly what they should have done."

SEC. RUMSFELD: "But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it."

GEN. PACE: "If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it."

Stop it? Why do that when you can take pictures instead?

Our Secretary of Defense, ladies and gentlemen. Take a bow, sir.

Crooks and Liars has video:
The Rummy and Pace Show