Reports of Rumsfeld's Rules

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

And now some fresh pickings from the grapevine:

Reports of Rumsfeld's Rules

As calls for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation over Iraqi prison abuse continue, newspapers around the world -- including the New York Times -- are noting that 3 years ago the Defense secretary published a revised version of "Rumsfeld's Rules," a collection of rules and advice for White House staff.

The papers chose to quote one rule, which said -- "Be able to resign. It will improve your value to the president and do wonders for your performance." But the papers fail to mention Rumsfeld wrote that rule specifically for senior staff, not cabinet members like himself.

He did, however, write a section titled "for the secretary of Defense," its first sentence reading -- "The secretary of Defense is not a super general or admiral."

Photos Forsaken

Speaking of newspapers and Iraqi prison abuse, the editor-in-chief of Arab News -- one of the Arab world's largest English-language daily newspapers -- has told his staff to keep the most disturbing of the abuse photos off the paper's pages, insisting -- "they're distasteful [and] I don't want to inflame passions [against Americans]."

Related

Khaled al-Maeena, whose paper is based in Saudi Arabia, says -- "I don't want to see the whole American nation condemned for what only a handful of people did. Just as we [in Saudi Arabia] don't want to have the application of collective guilt on all Saudis because 15 of the 19 hijackers [on 9/11] came from here."

Khamenei Launches Own Website

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has launched his own Web site, complete with the latest fatwas, decrees and speeches. In the one of the most recent postings on Iraq, he says -- "the occupiers have gotten themselves caught in a trap like a wolf ... The ruling gang in America, with the Zionists pulling the strings, wants to swallow this rich part of the world... but contrary to their assumptions, the arrogant powers will choke on this mouthful... [and] the people of the world will witness the annihilation of this arrogant regime."

Fiscally Conservative?

Brian Holtz -- a libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress in California who describes himself as fiscally conservative -- is so sure voters in his district will choose him over Democratic incumbent Anna Eshoo... that he's promising to send $2 to those who don't.

But there's a catch. Voters have to print out and answer 11 questions, based on information from his campaign Web site. If voters answer the questions correctly, and still don't want to vote for him, Holtz will send them each a $2 bill. They have to pay postage, of course, but he's willing to pay out as much as $5,000.

FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report

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