Rummy now set to testify on Iraq at public hearing today, per MSNBC

just now. I guess the pressure got to him. I think/hope he'll be treated like a pinata.

This is from yesterday:

Rumsfeld snub of war hearing draws fire "

Edit to update link:
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/08/02/ap2923536.html


WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he essentially was too busy to testify at a public hearing on the Iraq war, raising a new furor on Capitol Hill over the three-year-old conflict.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters Wednesday, Rumsfeld said he thought it was enough for him to attend a private briefing with the entire Senate on Thursday. Citing his crowded calendar, he declined the Senate Armed Services Committee's request to testify publicly on Thursday morning.

Rumsfeld's decision drew protests from committee Democrats who said much had changed in the six months since he last testified and took questions from the committee. The request for his appearance came from the committee chairman, Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., and the top Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan.

<snip>

Rumsfeld also offered an explanation for why as many as two-thirds of the Army's brigades and many National Guard units are rated not ready for combat. He said the Pentagon is wrestling with standards that would best describe the condition of the units. And he noted that highly experienced units coming home from Iraq leave a lot of equipment behind, and as a result are considered not combat ready.

"The Army today is vastly better than it was two, four, six or eight years ago," he said. "It has much more equipment, much better equipment, and it's better trained and more experienced."

he needs to be removed from office and tried as a war criminal.

being dragged from the room by security raving and screaming.

caught up in one of the many lies he's weaved. I don't think he's that far from snapping myself...

Oaths are for idiot schmucks who might be held accountable for their testimony. :sarcasm:

.....And he noted that highly experienced units coming home from Iraq leave a lot of equipment behind, and as a result are considered not combat ready.

as she shook his hand. Looked like she pushed herself out there for the C-Span camera just for the photo op. Ted Kennedy was also there shaking his hand next to Hillary although he didn't look as jubilant.

What is with Hillary? Why does she do this kind of thing. It's one thing to be cordial and senatorial to Rumsfeld but another to treat him like he's a long lost friend you are so excited to see...:shrug:

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., wrote Rumsfeld on Wednesday, urging him to change his mind.

"The American people should hear directly from you," said Clinton, who has criticized the administration's handling of the war. Unlike Kennedy, she has not called for Rumsfeld's resignation.

Rummy claims a soldier told him that. I s'pose that was supposed to pull at your heartstrings.
Mine remain in tact.:wtf:

She listed every prediction he had made that has turned out to be wrong. She didn't smile at him through the whole thing and looked grim.

Maybe the smiley routine was setting him up and I misjudged it. Still...i would think better of her if she would call for his firing. And her statement was tough enough that it would be clear to anyone he should be fired.

So...maybe the statement and the hearing is all for show...or maybe it's a shot across the bow to Rummy that if we take back the House and Senate that he will have hell to pay.

It's hard to get enthusiastic about these hearings anymore because they never go anywhere and look like grandstanding by the Senators. Still, her statement was excellent and so was Senator Mark Dayton's from Minnesota.

I just can't listen anymore to the rest of it...too discouraged about all these criminals: Rummy and his crowd and what they get away with.:-(

the spineless democrats don't wanna be seen as bashing rummy's yellow lying teeth, so they will too treat him with loving kindness and kid gloves. we are living in a time when any sort of truth has to be pushed down a barrel of shit.

the war (has NOTHING to do with his son enlisting!:eyes: ) That caught me off guard.