Some of you may be wondering why Donald Rumsfeld (search) holds Pentagon briefings that seem to deny the obvious — that American troops are having both successes and difficulties in Iraq.
Too many American troops are getting shot in what might eventually be called a drive-by insurgency.
Rumsfeld doesn't want to call it an insurgency. Why? Because the war opponents want him to admit to something that will undercut his reasons for war, something that will besmirch Operation Iraqi Freedom's successes and make Americans less likely to support the effort as it continues, as it must. Cutting and running is not an option.
Now if you think the secretary of defense has his head in the sand, refuses to see what jeapordy Americans are in over there and isn't doing anything about it, then you just aren't following the news.
The American troops in Iraq are on a full court press to find Saddam Hussein and all of his followers who are taking bounty payments to go after U.S. soldiers.
This is no doubt being ordered by Rumsfeld himself — no one has ever accused him of not being observant.
But expecting Rumsfeld to cave into the whining demands of his war opponents by making an admission they would like to see coming from his mouth so they could say, "We were right"?
That isn't going to happen, and people who want it to happen should just get over it.
As for the other admission he refuses to make — that Iraq is now a quagmire — he says it's not, and I think he's right about that... at least for now. We're having difficulties, but it's no quagmire.
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