They knew a thing or two about freedom ...

The straight dope from Rumsfeld...

...."Or take the coalition in Iraq. It now includes military forces from 32 nations. Consider some of the countries that are contributing troops in Iraq today: Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. They all have forces in Iraq assisting the coalition. There are others, as well, but I just mention these because those are the nations helping in Iraq today that President Reagan helped to make free."

And, "Why are so many of these nations, many small, most not very wealthy, sending their forces . . . halfway around the world, to help bring freedom to the Iraqi people? I suspect it's because so many of them have just recovered their own freedom, and they're eager, they're proud to help the Iraqi people recover theirs. God bless them all, and God bless Ronald Reagan for what he did to help liberate them "....

Yes. God bless Ronald Reagan. And God bless Donald Rumsfeld. It's so refreshing to have such a straight talker instead of the usual mealy mouths.

And, amazingly, he hasn't become tired or discouraged! Men who try to reform the Pentagon almost always give up in baffled frustration. But Rumsfeld is still going strong. He is proposing massive new base closings! Is that ever going to set the cat among the pigeons. Wheee.

The quotes are from a piece by Jay Nordlinger, who got to tag along on a Rumsfeld trip. Jay adds:

...Many of you will recall when Robert Scheer, the leftist journalist, referred to our allies as "nations you can buy on eBay." Mark Shields, for his part, on CNN, did a riff about Albania � what a joke it was that they were on board. This last had a particular effect on me, because I had recently come from Albania, and been moved by those people, some of whom had served brutal prison sentences. They knew a thing or two about freedom, and liberation, and new chances, and gratitude.

I have an Albanian flag "flying" in my office � I'm looking at it now. A journalist/intellectual in Tirana said to me, "Our neighbors, despising our steadfast support of the United States, call us 'the Israel of the Balkans.'" I told them � the audience gathered � that (to use a clich�) they should wear that label as a badge of honor...

And this bit of Rumsfeld is funny:

[On the hunt for WMD's] ..."But in a country that size, it is going to take time. There's just no question about it. And the way to find it is not by running around like that French inspector with his magnifying glass and checking everything. The . . ."

At this point, the audience tittered, thinking, possibly, that Rumsfeld was talking about the French government, or some sort of U.N. team. Sensing this (possible) misunderstanding, Rumsfeld said, "No, I didn't mean that! I was . . . full stop! I was talking about Inspector Couseau or whatever. I really was!"

Later on, Rumsfeld said to some of us, "Who was that guy? Cousteau?" ....

Posted by John Weidner at October 24, 2003 5:05 PM