Blast From the Past: Donald Rumsfeld Edition

This June 30, 2003 exchange between Donald Rumsfeld and CNN Correspondent Jamie McIntyre illustrates the length the Bush administration would go to deny the realities of growing insurgency in Iraq.

MCINTYRE (voice-over): I want the DOD definition of guerilla war.

RUMSFELD: I was afraid you would. I should have looked it up. I knew I should have looked it up. I could die that I didn't look it up.

MCINTYRE: The Pentagon's own definition (unintelligible): "Military and paramilitary operations conducted in enemy-held or hostile territory by an irregular predominantly indigenous forces." It seems to fit a lot of what's going on in Iraq.

RUMSFELD: It really doesn't.

The vast majority of U.S. military casualties occurred after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. There were early signs of an insurgency and Rumsfeld was too incompetent to address the situation. Republicans appoint people like Rumsfeld and tell us they are the only political party that can keep them. That is about as believable as there was no guerilla war in the summer of 2003.