View Full Version : Rumsfeld flies into northern Iraq
Rumsfeld flies into northern Iraq
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has arrived in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk for an unannounced visit.
Mr Rumsfeld plans to make a first-hand assessment of the military and political situation in the country, Us military officials said.
He arrived on board a US Air Force plane that flew in from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
It is Mr Rumsfeld's first visit to Kirkuk, the centre of Iraq's northern oilfields.
Mr Rumsfeld was due to meet US troop commanders and political leaders in Kirkuk, before going on to Baghdad later in the day.
front
12-06-2003, 05:10 AM
"It is Mr Rumsfeld's first visit to Kirkuk, the centre of Iraq's northern oilfields."
What was your sourced quote for that article, cut?
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39604000/jpg/_39604629_rumsfeld_afp_203body.jpg
The BBC article? :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3296149.stm
"Mr Rumsfeld plans to make a first-hand assessment of the military and political situation in the country, US military officials said."
Hooray!
"Wearing a beige desert camouflage jacket, Mr Rumsfeld is reported to have eaten breakfast with troops in a mess at the Kirkuk air base on his arrival."
Hooray!
"He then met local Iraqi officials at a safe house."
Hooray!
Have I cheered enough?
"In Iraq, he is being escorted by the Fourth Infantry Division, which has borne the brunt of guerrilla attacks by Iraqi militants believed to remain loyal to Saddam Hussein in his home region north of Baghdad."
<snip>
Maj Gen Odierno insisted "really good progress" had been made in crushing resistance.
"We are now down to 22 incidents a day," he said, referring to the number of attacks on coalition troops in his zone.
He said he believed fewer US troops would soon be required.
It was in Kirkuk last week that American soldiers mounted a series of apparently failed raids aimed at capturing Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri who, after Saddam Hussein, is the most senior member of the former regime still at large.
<snip>
<snip>
<snip>
<ENOUGH>
Well... that just about says it.
"It is Mr Rumsfeld's first visit as defence secretary to Kirkuk, the centre of Iraq's northern oilfields."
Not even the "centre of Kurdish resistance against Saddam."
Nor even the "centre of Kurdish popular resistance against Turkish control (as the Turks try to spread the genocide southwards)".
Just the oil emphasis. Those son-of-a-gun BBC liberal bitches. How dare they cast aspersions on Rumsfeld.
He is there to spread Democracy, and Support the Troops, and kick those friggin Pentagon lackeys into reality...
cheers
front
One line! and you jump on it, how paranoid are you?!..
That wasn't selective pasting it was what they article said when it first came up.
Falco
12-06-2003, 11:34 AM
Bush now Rumsfeld whose going to be next? Condoleezza?
Condi Rice was in Baghdad together with Dubya.
Falco
12-06-2003, 11:49 AM
Ok then ... how about **** Cheney? Colin Powell?
Is morale especially low or something?
Seoulstriker
12-06-2003, 11:59 AM
Is morale especially low or something?
no. there were different reasons why the leaders made each trip. Bush made the trip to have thanksgiving with the troops and showed the US commitment to Iraq. Rumsfeld's trip was to gauge progress by meeting with commanders.
front
12-06-2003, 01:23 PM
I'm not paranoid. Why would I be paranoid? I might be cynical but that is okay... after all I'm in good company:
Bush's turkey raises questions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3294501.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39537000/jpg/_39537352_bushturkey_203ap.jpg
George W Bush serves turkey to US troops in Baghdad
"A roast turkey presented to US troops in Iraq for Thanksgiving by President George W Bush was reportedly only used for decorative purposes.
Photographs showed the president holding the turkey next to US troops as if preparing to serve it for their holiday meal.
But the Washington Post paper says the bird had been roasted by a contractor to use as a table decoration.
Mr Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq amid unprecedented security last week.
Morale boost
Mr Bush stunned 600 troops of the First Armoured Division when he arrived as they were due to begin their Thanksgiving dinner.
The White House has been criticised over an incident involving Air Force One
They had not been told in advance of Mr Bush's visit - the first to Iraq by a US president - and even journalists accompanying him were warned not to report the visit until they had left the country on Air Force One, the president's plane.
News of the visit, and the images of Mr Bush holding the turkey aloft while talking to delighted US troops, created a media frenzy in the US and it was hailed as a public relations coup for the Bush administration.
It also served as a well-timed morale boost, as concerns continued to grow in the US over the high numbers of casualties in Iraq.
However, now it seems likely that the soldiers ate pre-prepared turkey instead, not the glistening golden brown creature handled by the US president.
But US officials countered they did not know that the turkey was going to be there or that Mr Bush was going to pick it up.
Plane debate
The allegation comes as the White House has been criticised for repeatedly changing its version of events regarding an encounter between Air Force One, and a regular aircraft whose pilot spotted it over British airspace on its way to Iraq.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan quoted a statement from the London area's air traffic control centre which said a pilot had asked if the plane behind him was, as he suspected, Air Force One.
Air traffic control replied to say only that the plane was a Gulfstream V, which was how it had been described in the flight plan for security reasons.
Previously, it had been wrongly implied that the conversation had been between the regular plane's pilot and Air Force One itself.
The Bush administration said it had told the anecdote to reveal the inherent danger surrounding the US president as he prepared for the visit, but the incident has been criticised as excessive "spin" on the part of Mr Bush's handlers."
Hahaha... what a PR disaster.
cheers
front
You have got to be kidding me. They're arguing motives because soldiers didn't eat from that particular turkey? This is beyond pundit discussion. This is just plain grasping at any little straw. What next, impeachment because the President didn't carve the freakin bird?
Deuterium
12-06-2003, 09:22 PM
He flew into Kirkuk because all the northern troops and the Kurds haven't had a high level visit in some time. Kirkuk is the airfield. Bashur, Irbil, and As Sulaymaniyah have closed up shop as an active airfield.
Deuterium
12-06-2003, 09:24 PM
Hahaha... what a PR disaster.
I would say it wasn't a PR disaster for the troops that were there. Anyone looking at ANY event by a politician/leader can see nefarious actions.
California Joe
12-06-2003, 09:40 PM
Condoleeza has to be one of the dumbest names ever. Just sayin'.
mocking_loudly_died
12-06-2003, 11:19 PM
Joe you would give her one.
The Walrus
12-07-2003, 07:51 AM
Anybody remember the last time Rumsfeld visited Iraq?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1639839.jpg
Deuterium
12-07-2003, 09:56 AM
Anybody remember the last time Rumsfeld visited Iraq?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1639839.jpg
Kinda like this eh Walrus?
In November, 1937, Neville Chamberlain, who had replaced Stanley Baldwin as prime minister, sent Lord Halifax to meet Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering in Germany. In his diary, Lord Halifax records how he told Hitler: "Although there was much in the Nazi system that profoundly offended British opinion, I was not blind to what he (Hitler) had done for Germany, and to the achievement from his point of view of keeping Communism out of his country." This was a reference to the fact that Hitler had banned the Communist Party (KPD) in Germany and placed its leaders in Concentration Camps.
Argyll
12-07-2003, 11:28 AM
Touche mate!! ;)
Roger Rabbit
12-07-2003, 11:37 AM
Communism is bad m'kay.
Anybody remember the last time Rumsfeld visited Iraq?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1639839.jpg
Ok, now that I'm the one saying it, what are you gonna quote now Deuterium? ;)
SFontaine
12-07-2003, 05:05 PM
Lol. The Anti-Bush sorts have nothing to say against Bush's trip to Iraq so they start conjuring up bull****. The troops got a morale boost and that's really all that ****ing matters.
The Walrus
12-08-2003, 10:57 AM
Anybody remember the last time Rumsfeld visited Iraq?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/1639839.jpg
Kinda like this eh Walrus?
In November, 1937, Neville Chamberlain, who had replaced Stanley Baldwin as prime minister, sent Lord Halifax to meet Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Goering in Germany. In his diary, Lord Halifax records how he told Hitler: "Although there was much in the Nazi system that profoundly offended British opinion, I was not blind to what he (Hitler) had done for Germany, and to the achievement from his point of view of keeping Communism out of his country." This was a reference to the fact that Hitler had banned the Communist Party (KPD) in Germany and placed its leaders in Concentration Camps.
Actually, yes, Chamberlain is seen as a gullible fool while Rumsfeld is seen in a much different light. They both did essentially the same thing, Rumsfeld congratulated Saddam for keeping Islamic extremism out of Iraq and for making Iraq the only non-Israeli secular country in the midle-east.
Only that the US could have ousted Saddam at any moment then, which is more than can be said about Britain in 1937 at the height of German re-armament...
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.1.10 Copyright © 2012 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.