Donald Rumsfeld made a speech to the American Legion a few days ago that compared those who disagree with the White House policy on the war with the Chamberlains of pre-WWII England. This is a typical tactic used by the White House to change the subject on any debate that shows how bad their policies are. Simply attack the messenger instead of the message.

It's actually a small part of Rumsfeld's speech, about two-thirds of the way down in the transcript. The bullet list of "when will you stop beating your wife" rhetorical questions are actually more appalling than the Chamberlain references, but Olbermann, a fan of getting history right, and not a fan of this administrations handling of the war, completely blasted Rumsfeld in a rare editorial on his news show. You can see the video at Crooks and Liars or simply watch it below.

It's worth watching until the end. The Murrow quote he finishes up with is timeless.

From Atrios

Belgravia Dispatch marks the one year anniversary of Dick Cheney’s “[the insurgency] is in the last throes” statement with a rundown of casualties over time along with a rundown of the types of things that are happening.

He also has a very good rundown of the state of the war in Iraq. He discusses the perils of both troop withdrawal as well as the perils of having more troops in theater. He remains, of course, a proponent of increasing troop levels in strategic ways. My overall impression from the article could be summed up as “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” The complexity of the interrelationships between the various groups committing violence in Iraq is daunting for an non-specialist like me. Greg Djerejian, who authors and owns Belgravia Dispatch, on the other hand, was a term CFR member and actually has some foreign service experience. Go read both posts.

I’m reading a couple of interesting posts about the Iraq war. The first is by Greg Djerejian over at Belgravia Dispatch where he highlights conservative concerns about the war in Iraq. He draws from recent articles by Bill Kristol and Henry Kissinger and points the finger at Rumsfeld. Obsidian Wings linked to, agreeing with much of what Greg says in his analysis.

Common themes include that Rumsfeld and/or Cheney are the ones to blame in this debacle, which I get, but that somehow the President is blameless in this mess. That, quite frankly, I don’t get. I completely agree that Rumsfeld has been among the less competent in this Administration. And sure, he provides all the “really fun” quotes for us to puzzle over and snicker at. Sure, he’s supposed to know more about military needs and the details of planning a military campaign then our President. So, yeah, a lot of the problems begin with him.

But to ignore the President’s own culpability in the Iraq campaign is ridiculous. In fact, I think that much more of this should be lain at the feet of the man who makes all the decisions, not his underlings (smart as they may be). First, everyone and their brother was concerned about what came after the military campaign to topple the Iraqi government ended. The question of what happens afterwards was central to our decision not to go into Iraq in the first Gulf War. Any halfway intelligent leader should’ve asked for a detailed post-war plan.

Of course, we might expect a leader to actually, say, read a paper, too and follow the news. But, that’s apparently asking too much.

He’s ultimately in charge and has the responsibility to think through the advice given to him. Common sense should make you demand to see a post-war plan and details. Delegation is fine and good, but delegation doesn’t mean completely leaving tasks to underlings. Leaders follow up and exercise their judgement. That’s why they’re in charge

The timing of the whole war effort seems too closely timed to coincide with midterm elections. Any discussion of the failures in Iraq must consider the timing of the war and why we went when we did. This isn’t hindsight. I and many, many of the opponents of the war were concerned about the seeming inevitability of the war. Bush said repeatedly that it was a “last choice” but contemporary news reports as well as books such as Plan of Attack make it pretty clear that we were going to war before the joint resolution was passed by Congress.

Then there’s the small detail that Rumsfeld offered his own resignation only to be turned down by the President. If you really believe that Rumsfeld is incompetent or should go, the blame for that particular situation goes right to the President.

Look, I’m all for some hardy Rumsfeld bashing, but let’s not get myopic about the greater circumstances. This administration hasn’t done much of anything right on the foreign policy front and our soldiers and our taxpayers are paying for it now…

Looks like the Pentagon missed their deadline to update Congress about their plans and strategies in Iraq. This report is required by law. Once again, we see behavior from the White House that shows disdain for the law. Complying with the law… that’s so beneath them.