Donald Rumsfeld On Looters

[TransientR]

When confronted about why he was doing nothing to stop the rampant looting in Baghdad following the fall of Saddam, Rumsfeld replied:

"Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."

Of course the looting of pottery and other old stuff in museums, not the precious contents of a New Orlean's Walmart, made his nonchalance understandable [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Frank

[Broken Glass Can]

What he said then, apllies now too.

Of course, looters are also free to be arrested or worse for engaging in their risky behavior.

Besides I think the anti-capitalists are celebrating the looting of that evil Wal-Mart chain. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[andyfox]

Rumsfeld, of course, knew that looting would take place after the fall of the Hussein regime, but refused to allow DOD personnel to even attend meetings to discuss what to do about it.

I saw your [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img], but has any prominent person, or any person at all, other than Rumsfeld, defended either the looting in Iraq or in New Orleans?

[Broken Glass Can]

[ QUOTE ]
has any prominent person, or any person at all, other than Rumsfeld, defended either the looting in Iraq or in New Orleans?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not that I know of. But you imply that Rumfeld was defending the looting in Iraq. He was not. Having priorities of how you use your forces, and keeping them safe is a reasonable thing to do.

Today, should we use the national guard to go after looters, or to rescue people? Rescue should be a top priority, you can't stop all crime.

Rumsfeld was quite reasonable back then, it was the media that tried to ascribe an evil intent to his words.

[TransientR]

[ QUOTE ]
Rumsfeld, of course, knew that looting would take place after the fall of the Hussein regime, but refused to allow DOD personnel to even attend meetings to discuss what to do about it.

I saw your [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img], but has any prominent person, or any person at all, other than Rumsfeld, defended either the looting in Iraq or in New Orleans?

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly. No one has supported looting. The gist of the argument re. New Orleans, is what, given the facts of the situation, is an appropriate response to the looting.

As for Rumsfeld, I'm sure he would have liked to give the order to shoot the looters in Baghdad on sight, if the political situation, and his own mistakes re. force size needed for stabilizing Baghdad, hadn't made that untenable.

So, as usual, he made a lame, and unintentionally hilarious, excuse for his mistakes.

Frank

[Broken Glass Can]

I find Rumsfeld refreshing in his speech. His quote:

"Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."

is self-evident, but your typical person would be afraid to state something so obvious as the fact that free people have free will. Go Rummy!

[andyfox]

Rumsfeld was not being reasonable. He was being stubborn. Rumsfeld, by his own admission, does not like to plan for all contingencies, because planning for bad things might keep what he wants to do from being done becasue it focuses on the negatives that might result from the action.

Saying "stuff happens" and "freedom's untidy" strikes me as a defense of the looting. What would people say if, say, one of the senators from Massachusetts, when asked about the looting in New Orleans, said "stuff happens and freedom's untidy"? They'd say he was defending or rationalizing the looting, wouldn't they?

[andyfox]

You miss the point completely, or choose to feign ignorance of it. Rumsfeld was aware that looting would take place and refused to consider it. Rather than admit that, he had to say something that made it appear the looting took him by surprise. "Stuff happens" and "freedom's untidy" strike me not as refreshing, but as disgusting. As it would be if somebody said it about the current looting.

I'm a liberal, but I can admit that the DOD's overthrow of the Hussein regime was brilliant both in design and execution. The facts show that the planning for the occupation was incompetent. It's amazing a smart person like you can't see this.

[Broken Glass Can]

[ QUOTE ]
What would people say if, say, one of the senators from Massachusetts, when asked about the looting in New Orleans, said "stuff happens and freedom's untidy"?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can honestly say that if one of those two liberals said "stuff happens and freedom's untidy", I would be amazed that they spoke the truth for once, but I could not say they were defending looting.

Perhaps now I understand why liberals blame everything on Bush. They think humans have godlike powers, instead of realizing that "stuff happens and freedom's untidy". I firmly believe that "stuff happens and freedom's untidy", so this is just self-evident simple truth to me, and I hold Bush and all Presidents to a standard of doing their best in an untidy world.