Tue, 04 Nov 2003

Russert Misses the Fatal Rumsfeld Question

I watched Tim Russert Interview Don Rumsfeld on Meet the Press on Sunday. You could say that Russert took it far too easy on Rumsfeld. People must be feeling sorry for him. The interview really caught my attention when it reached this juncture:
Russert: Time magazine reports this today, that this question was asked in the closed briefing with senators, "'What troop levels do we expect to have in Iraq a year from now?,' asked Senator Bill Frist, the Republican leader. And with that, the Pentagon chief began to tap dance." Do you believe that you have an obligation to tell our leaders in Congress what your best estimate is for troop levels in Iraq a year from now? Rumsfeld: You know, since -- any war, when it starts, the questions are obvious. The questions are: How long is it going to last? How many casualties will there be? And, How many troops will it take? Now, those questions can't be answered. Every time someone has answered those questions, they've been wrong. They have been embarrassingly wrong. I'll use another word: They have "misinformed." By believing they knew the answers to those questions, they've misinformed and misled the American people. I made a conscious decision at the outset of these conflicts to not pretend I knew something I didn't know. And what I have said is just that. I have said it is not knowable.
What's amazing is that Rumsfeld continues talking and a moment later says:
Now, the answer as to how many U.S. forces will be there a year from now depends entirely on what happens in the security situation on the ground, first and foremost. Second, it depends on how fast we are able to build up the Iraqi forces. What's happening is the total number of security forces in that country have been going up steadily. We've come down from 150,- to 130,000 troops. The coalition troops of about 30,000 have stayed about level. And what's changed is the Iraqi troops have come up from zero to 100,000, heading towards over 200,000 next year.
And Russert failed to deliver the follow-up question that I'd like to see Rumsfeld answer: If you can predict the number of Iraqi troops involved next year, why can't you predict the number of American troops? Are you misinforming and misleading the American people by stating the number of Iraqi Troops?

Posted at: 12:47 | permalink