Donald Rumsfeld: Anti-American Thug

Fourth in a series sure to be depressingly long. Here’s what the Secretary of Defense thinks about the free exchange of opinion and ideas that defines our civil society: he thinks it causes terrorism.

We know for a fact . . . that terrorists studied Somalia and they studied instances where the United States was dealt a blow and tucked in and persuaded themselves they could, in fact, cause us to acquiesce in whatever it is they wanted us to do[.] The United States is not going to do that. President Bush is not going to do that. Now, to the extent terrorists are given reason to believe he might, or if he is not willing to, the opponents might prevail in some way . . . and they take heart in that, and that leads to more recruiting . . . that leads to more encouragement, or that leads to more staying power. Obviously that does make it more difficult.

Back in my day—two years ago or so—if you blamed terrorism on anything but the brimstone hearts of the terrorists and the stinky evil emanating therefrom, consensus opinion was that you hated America. But I guess that rule only counts if you’re not blaming Democrats.

Filed under: politics/war