Bill Gertz reports Rummy/’s every word with the enthusiasm of an eromenos:
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld took a jab at critics of U.S. missile defense efforts during a speech last week in Huntsville, Ala. He noted his cordial discussions days earlier with Russian officials on missile defense and said that critics, primarily liberal weapons-control advocates, who think U.S. missile defenses would be destabilizing were wrong.
Here/’s ramblin/’ Rumsfeld himself:
I just left St. Petersburg day before yesterday and was meeting with the Russian minister of defense, Sergey Ivanov. We had talks about missile defense. And if one thinks about the tone and the cordial discussions, and discussing the possibilities of our cooperating; if one thinks of the discussion I had two days ago, three days ago, relative to what people said would be the case if we tried to pull out of the ABM Treaty — that it would destabilize the world — it is an amazing contrast. The sky-is-falling group was wrong. The sky did not fall. It/’s still up there.
Reads like James Joyce for xenophobes.
Apart from the obvious joy Rumsfeld gets picking on an idea his own size … like a strawperson, Russia/’s nuclear arsenal has changed in response to US missile defense plans. But don/’t ask me, ask … wait for it … Bill Gertz!
- “Russia has conducted a test of a long-range missile with a new jet-powered last stage designed to defeat U.S. missile defenses, according to U.S. intelligence officials. They view the launch as Russia/’s answer to U.S. plans to deploy a missile-defense system against long-range missiles.” (Bill Gertz, “Moscow tests long-range ballistic missile;U.S. sees move as Russian answer to shield,” The Washington Times, July 30, 2001, A1)
- “U.S. intelligence agencies uncovered new evidence of arms-control-treaty cheating by Russia. Spy services recently learned about new warhead capabilities of Russia/’s road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), known in the Pentagon as the SS-27. … Moscow has tried to backtrack on the single-warhead treaty requirement by suggesting it would add warheads to its mobile missiles to counter U.S. deployment of a national missile defense.” (Bill Gertz & Rowan Scarborough, “Inside the Ring,” The Washington Times, November 17, 2000, A6).
I am not saying that I believe Gertz in 2000 or 2001 anymore than in 2004. But, really, isn/’t one pack of lies enough for anyone? So, dear readers, I am taking a poll: which of the following does Bill Gertz really believe. Is it:
- Sky is not falling. The Russians are pansies.
- Sky is falling. Nuke /’em before it hits the ICBM fields in North Dakota.
- Don Rumsfeld is hot. What was the question again?
E-mail me!
Sources: The Washington Times/’ archive requires a subscription–You might get a discount if you are a Moonie. “Moscow tests long-range ballistic missile; U.S. sees move as Russian answer to shield” is available from the RANSAC website. The November 17, 2000 “Inside the Ring” can be found on the High Frontier website.
