Grandpappy Donny Rumsfeld recently took his two young charges, Petie Pace and Johnny Abizaid, on a trip to visit with a Senate committee up on Capitol Hill. By the time the day was done, all three of them probably wished they had gone to Baghdad or Kabul or Haifa... anywhere else instead of this forum.

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"Out Of The Blue"

(This column appeared in THE LONE STAR ICONOCLAST, Crawford, Texas, and at www.LoneStarIcon.com the week of August 7, 2006.)

These past few weeks I had begun to wonder if the "war" in Iraq was still in progress.

Virtually every minute of news time seemed to be dedicated to the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Well, I suppose if a 24-hour news channel (that only presents live feeds about 16 hours a day) needs a real shootin' war to pull in viewers instead of a three-year-old watered down war predicated on lies for oil rights, the shootin' war gets the coverage.

To be perfectly honest, I've really been getting burned out on the whole Israel versus Hezbollah tragedy. Morning, noon and night, as if nothing else has been taking place on the Planet.

Not even so much as a runaway fiancé in Atlanta.

What a pleasant surprise was in store for me today, don'cha know.

This morning (Thursday, August 3, 2006) I turned the television on just in time to catch Hillary Clinton give Donald Rumsfeld a thorough going over, roasting him on a spit about 18 inches above red hot coals.

The Secretary of Defense was clearly out of his league.

"Under your leadership, there have been numerous errors in judgment that have led us to where we are in Iraq and Afghanistan," the junior Democratic Senator from New York chided Rummy.

"You underestimated the nature and strength of the insurgency, the sectarian violence, and the spread of Iranian influence."

Among Donny's plethora of failures Mrs. Clinton listed the lack of U.S. troop numbers, the poor planning for stabilization following Saddam Hussein's ouster, and the snail's pace progress in rebuilding the Iraqi military.

Flanked on either side by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, and the head of U.S. Central Command Gen. John Abizaid, USA, Rummy was not having a real good day visiting with the Senators.

Yet, his defensive demeanor and flippant responses attempted to hide the icy arrogance with which Rummy sends brave young Americans to senseless, unnecessary death and dismemberment.

Were we not previously privy to this routine from Donny so often -- as Sen. Clinton pointed out when she stated, "There's a track record here. This is not 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, when you appeared before this committee and made many comments and presented many assurances that have frankly proven to be unfulfilled." – it's possible that the American public might buy his pathos.

Instead of redeploying troops or reducing levels, more troops are being held over to secure Baghdad. Troop levels are going up, not decreasing, noted Mrs. Clinton.

Feigning hurt and surprise in response to the Senator's remarks, Rummy shot back with his typical homespun, "My goodness."

Yeah, that'll deflect any and all critics. How can they argue with the response their old grandpas would have given?

Then he went into his patented maneuver of asking overly simplistic questions, then answering them himself with the only possible replies:

"Are there setbacks? Yes. Are there things that people can't anticipate? Yes. Does the enemy have a brain and continue to make adjustments on the ground requiring our forces to make adjustments? You bet.

"Is that going to continue to be the case? I think so. Is this problem going to get solved in the near term about this long struggle against violent extremism? No, I don't believe it is."

As often observed by the immortal pholosopher Homer, "D'oh!"

For the umpteenth time, the Defense Secretary indefensibly defended his position by trying to buffalo Sen. Clinton with jabberwocky about how a premature withdrawal would leave the fledgling democratic Iraqi government vulnerable to attack and overthrow by anarchists, blah, blah, blah.

What nation provided troops to protect our fledgling democratic United States Government when it was first learning to crawl?

Then it was Sen. John McCain's turn. He finally showed some impatience with the snail's pace of the war and occupation of Iraq. The Arizona Republican questioned both Gens. Pace and Abizaid as to whether either of them had anticipated the extreme level of sectarian strife a year ago.

Gen. Pace admitted that he had not expected such violence to erupt. An honest statement, yet a rather myopic view from the highest-ranking person in our military.

Gen. Abizaid recognized that the tensions were rising, but had not figured on such excessive violence. Despite having rarely seen a Middle East "so unsettled and so volatile," Abizaid is optimistic that the "slide can be prevented" and we will be successful in defeating al Qaeda, deterring Iran, and "developing a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Sen. McCain was not so sure of this rosy scenario. He referred to our troops as being engaged in a widespread "game of whack-a-mole": They go to Falluja to deal with a problem; a week or two later there's a situation in Ramadi, so the troops have to move there for a battle; then, the fight is on in Baghdad, and on and on it goes. Wherever the insurgents or terrorists pop up, the American troops are expected to show up.

I find these answers incredulous. At least one year ago various British news media were reporting that civil war in Iraq was inevitable.

How could it be that the English saw it clear as day, but the Americans didn't recognize the situation for the disaster that was looming?

Simple: Donald H. Rumsfeld and the agenda of the entire RoveBush Fascist Regime.

One of the first things I was taught after beginning Basic Training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was "Hope for the best, expect the worst." This was reiterated time and again throughout my Army days; it wasn't a suggestion, they were words to keep us alive. This phrase was an underlying tenet of both leadership schools the Army put me through.

Hell, most management courses will expect one to bear this in mind.

It would serve anyone in everyday life.

Even the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared."

Here we have the three most powerful men in our military command structure, responsible for hundreds of thousands – millions -- of lives, and not one of them was prepared to react to what some rag-tag insurgents might do!

By their own admission, two generals ignored the basic military tenet of "Hope for the best, expect the worst!"

And Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld basically said to the United States Senate, "Look, it wasn't my fault. How could I foresee these things happening? You can't blame me."

Rummy's the damned Secretary of Defense, the same schmuck who in 1998 advised President Bill Clinton to invade Iraq! Thank gawd Bill wasn't a power-mad megalomaniac lunatic!

How could none of this not be the fault of anyone but Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, George W. Bush and Karl Rove? (Lest we forget William H. Rehnquist and his Federalist Supremes, along with the other peripheral players...)

Before the end of the day, Mrs. Clinton was calling for head of Donny Rumsfeld.

Well, not exactly, but she suggested in no uncertain terms that it would be good for the Nation were he to resign – and the quicker the better.

"I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late. I think the president should choose to accept Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation."

Sen. Clinton continued, "The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people. It's time for him to step down and be replaced by someone who can develop an effective strategy and communicate it effectively to the American people and to the world.

"I am frankly tired of hearing the same stories from the administration's national security team. The president changed his economic team, he changed his White House team – I think it's time for him to change his security and defense team."

I agree with everything Mrs. Clinton said in these last few paragraphs, with the exception of one item. She noted that Rummy "lost credibility... with the people." I doubt that he ever had that much credibility with the American public to begin with – nobody ever voted him into office. Hillary was just being tactfully diplomatic.

Speaking of being diplomatic, Condoleezza has been wearing those rose-colored glasses again, telling us there's going to be a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. That was in an interview taped earlier in the week for airing on Larry King (not exactly) Live tonight.

The thing is, she has no idea when the ceasefire will begin... so don't hold your breath.

Aah, to be one of King George XLIII's true believers...

Shalom, y'all.

© 2006, The Lone Star Iconoclast

Authors Website: www.lonestaricon.com

Authors Bio:
An erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator, Jerry Tenuto is a veteran of seven years service in the U.S. Army. He holds a BS and MA in Broadcast Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. For two decades Jerry filled the airwaves with rock, roll and banter as a disc jockey -- until greed, the rebirth of payola, and de-Reaganlation ruined that medium. Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly "Out Of The Blue" feature in THE LONE STAR ICONOCLAST, Crawford, Texas, www.LoneStarIcon.com -- because somebody from that community has to do the world right.