Epstein Secrets

blic figures stood in its way. There were rare moments. In late September 2002, a few months before American troops would topple the government in Baghdad and set the U.S. on course for nearly a decade of insurgency and internecine conflict and improvised explosive devises, a wizened Sen. Robert Byrd (

the press by an administration already girded for combat. How depressing to look back on those days and see not just the obvious -- Douglas Feith, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice; those who promised America would be "greeted as liberators" (Cheney), and who threatened nuclear "mushroom clouds" (

onald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz suggested the war could be done on the cheap and that it would largely pay for itself. In October 2003, Rumsfeld told a press conference about President Bush's request for $21 billion for Iraq and Afghan reconstruction that "the $20 billion the president reque

were killed in EFTA00652595 February. In January, it was 177 killed. For 2012, the body count was 4,471 civilians killed. This week, a bombing in Baghdad killed four. A few days earlier, bombings in Baghdad and elsewhere killed 22. In December of 2011, as the last combat troops were being brought home

, Bush belatedly moved to rein in his vice president, siding with Justice Department lawyers on surveillance issues; firing Cheney's dearest friend, Donald Rumsfeld, from his Pentagon job; letting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice win the argument over whether to bomb a Syrian nuclear reactor site (we didn't)

ened. After Iraq, there has been a weird amnesty and amnesia about people's misjudgment on the most consequential decision of our times.... Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Rice, McCain, Abrams, and others including the pro-war press claque are still offering their judgments unfazed. One of my fathe

ile, 136 Iraqis were killed in February. In January, it was 177 killed. For 2012, the body count was 4,471 civilians killed. This week, a bombing in Baghdad killed four. A few days earlier, bombings in Baghdad and elsewhere killed 22. In December of 2011, as the last combat troops were being brought hom

ned: After Iraq, there has been a weird amnesty and amnesia about people's misjudgment on the most consequential decision of our times. ... Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Rice, McCain, Abrams, and others including the pro-war press claque are still offering their judgments unfazed. He concludes: "

int, I think will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." Or this one, from then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, uttered in the midst of the rioting and looting that broke out in the very predictable vacuum created when we toppled a central government with no

l positions in Iraq. When he came up EFTA00707200 for reelection last time, it was an Iranian general, Qassem Suleimani , who came from Tehran to Baghdad to pressure the other Shiite parties in Iraq to join Maliki's coalition. Because of Iran's pressure, Maliki got a majority in the parliament. The i

istances. In a 75-minute conversation, Hagel gave me his version of the Middle East crisis tour. Talking with him, I found, was not like talking to Donald Rumsfeld. Interviewing Rumsfeld at this table was like interviewing a razor blade; one wrong move and you'd get cut. Hagel, on the other hand, is tranquil,

rsation, Hagel gave me his version of the Middle East crisis tour. Talking with him, I found, was not like talking to Donald Rumsfeld. Interviewing Rumsfeld at this table was like interviewing a razor blade; one wrong move and you'd get cut. Hagel, on the other hand, is tranquil, conversational, and ver

the balance of power in the Persian Gulf would be altered for the better by a security arrangement between the United States and the government in Baghdad. The Sadrists have already labeled a potential accord with the Americans as a deal with the devil, but the Sadrists have no veto over the big natio

meted out to the Republicans in the congressional elections of 2006, his appointment was taken as a sharp break with the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. It was an open secret that the outlook of the new taciturn man at the Department of Defense had no place in it for the spread of democracy in Arab

break with the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. It was an open secret that the outlook of the n

the balance of power in the Persian Gulf would be altered for the better by a security arrangement between the United States and the government in Baghdad. The Sadrists have already labeled a potential accord with the Americans as a deal with the devil, but the Sadrists have no veto over the big natio

meted out to the Republicans in the congressional elections of 2006, his appointment was taken as a sharp break with the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. It was an open secret that the outlook of the new taciturn man at the Department of Defense had no place in it for the spread of democracy in Arab

break with the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. It was an open secret that the outlook of the n

the balance of power in the Persian Gulf would be altered for the better by a security arrangement between the United States and the government in Baghdad. The Sadrists have already labeled a potential accord with the Americans as a deal with the devil, but the Sadrists have no veto over the big natio

meted out to the Republicans in the congressional elections of 2006, his appointment was taken as a sharp break with the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. It was an open secret that the outlook of the new taciturn man at the Department of Defense had no place in it for the spread of democracy in Arab

break with the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld. It was an open secret that the outlook of the n

ponse to the Kurds' refusal to market their oil to international buyers using the federal State Oil Marketing Organization and Iraq's New York and Baghdad bank accounts. Whereas the KRG previously received over a billion dollars in monthly transfers, Baghdad has only sent partial payments for two of t

Prayers]. But what changed it? Statements by Don Rumsfeld and Condi Rice humiliating the Iranian people."

f purpose, actually, with the Americans. And, in two consecutive weeks, there was no slogan [at Friday Prayers]. But what changed it? Statements by Don Rumsfeld and Condi Rice humiliating the Iranian people." America should have learned better over the past thirty-five years, Zarif said. Iranians "respond

ost-World Trade Center wars generally - was that the Pentagon and the fighting services had been unready for what they faced. Soldiers had arrived in Baghdad with forest-colored uniforms, thin-skinned transport, tank- led battle plans - all wrong and mostly dangerous. The most feared weapons system of the

ging the most expensive war on terrorism in human history, the US was uneasily discovering that it was creating more terrorists. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had sketched the nature of this puzzle in an October, 2003 memo with acid clarity. He asked: “Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading m

yond what the soldiers and analysts could match or even fully monitor. “Is our current situation such that ‘the harder we work, the behinder we get?” Rumsfeld asked in 2003.38 To be constantly behind. This was a commander’s nightmare. Among other things it was that sense of never quite catching up that had

2163 4A THE PALM BEACH POST • MONDAY. AUGUST 14. 2006 Mayhem mounts despite added troops Five bombings kill 57 civilians in a Shiite area of Baghdad. As New ler* Times itAGIMAD — As U.S. forces conducted a new se- curity sweep in western Baghdad on Sunday, five ap- parently coordinated bomb.-

estimating $200 billion for Iraq. but that was before a monumentally mismanaged occupation and a civil war. Back then, in 2002. Defense Secretary Donald Rtunsfeld thought $50 billion to $60 billion woukl do the job, but he asked people not to hold him to a hard number. For the record, the price tag pas

" he said, "what history decides." U.S. troops and their families, as well as the Iraqis dying every day. are more than Interested" in whether Mr. Rumsfeld and President Bush are making good decisions. The generals and Mr. Rumsfeld also continued the administration's soft retreat from taking full res