So little, so late, so what

Classified Rumsfeld Memo on Iraq Proposed ‘Major’ Change

Ya know, I’m more than a little skeptical of this “leaked” memo. It was supposedly written one day after President Bush interviewed Robert M. Gates as a potential successor to Rumsfeld and one day before the midterm elections.

The Pentagon spokesman, Eric Ruff, confirmed its authenticity with nary so much as a sideways glance. You remember in the past, how outraged and blustery the WH gets when a sensitive piece of information has been leaked? Why, they’ve even called for investigations so as to root out the leakers of such sensitive and embarrassing information.

And to leak it to the New York Times no less? The most hated paper in all the WH? And yet, not a peep, not a denial, not an excuse or explanation. Just a simple confirmation as to the memo’s authenticity. You know, the lack of righteous indignation might lead one to believe that this “memo” if authentic, may have been purposely leaked. But that couldn’t possibly be true because that would be dishonest, and sneaky, and underhanded...oh wait.

My skepticism could have something to do with this:

“Lawsuit Charges Rumsfeld as War Criminal”

The highlight?

"The passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 provides plaintiffs the evidence they needed to prove that the US was unwilling to prosecute Americans for war crimes. The Military Commissions Act that was signed by President George Bush on October 17, 2006, attempts to grant immunity to US officials and military personnel by narrowing the grounds of criminal liability under the War Crimes Act; and by retroactively extending a defense for criminal prosecutions related to detentions and interrogations back to September 11, 2001. When Rumsfeld resigned on November 8, he virtually lost all legal immunity from international prosecution for war crimes because the Act only applies during the individual’s term of office."

Could have something to do with why I'm more than a little suspicious of the timing of this memo. But let’s play along for the time being. The memo is long, and fraught with information. For the sake of time, I’ll just be the link-baby. If you’d like to read the NYT story, it’s here. Click here the full text of the memo.

And more importantly, lest you think I’m a bad photographer and I suck at cropping, the photo of Rumsfeld was downloaded as is from the AP newswire some time ago and it is my favorite picture of Rumsfeld. Just goes to show that the camera is mightier than the pen AND the sword...