Oh, Lord. I didn't mean to say anything quotable. -Donald Rumsfeld.
Rumsfeld is both the fall-guy and figurehead for Bush mismanagement of Iraq. And it's so typical that the Bush administration celebrated Rummy yesterday, as something of a hero, with a big ceremony, speeches and fanfare. You'd think they had something to celebrate. But this administration operates in outer space. After all, if you utterly fail at everything you do, you're eligible for GWB to award you the Congressional Medal of Honor. Witness Paul Bremmer and George Tenet. Such awards to the undeserving disrespect all the truly meritorious citizens who've also received it. So too for this hoopla yesterday.
I will remember Rummy's calls for critics to stifle themselves, his gross mismanagemnt of our defense dollars, and the sheer lunacy of his media presence.
So here's a sampler of what we'll now be missing, sans Rumsfeld.
"I'd rather not party. Rather it might be time to review some of the historic inanities we heard over the past few years:
"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."
"We do know of certain knowledge that he [Osama Bin Laden] is either in Afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead."
"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." GÇôon Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."
"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things." GÇôon looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens"
"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
For more Rumsfeldian sayings, look here .And celebrate the changeover, for whatever it's worth.