It will be reserved for those people who have tons of expertise and experience in their resume but still find ways to phuck everything up. Thanks to the NYTimes we get this new revelation about Donald Rumsfeld's pre Iraq War predictions.
Come to think of it. the fact that we had this dumbass as Sec Def for 6 years and still lived to blog about it leads me to believe that maybe Bob Gates ain't so bad after all.
On the eve of the invasion, as it began to dawn on a few officials that the price for rebuilding Iraq would be vastly greater than they had been told, the degree of miscalculation was illustrated in an encounter between Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, and Jay Garner, a retired lieutenant general who had hastily been named the chief of what would be a short-lived civilian authority called the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.
The history records how Mr. Garner presented Mr. Rumsfeld with several rebuilding plans, including one that would include projects across Iraq.
“What do you think that’ll cost?” Mr. Rumsfeld asked of the more expansive plan.
“I think it’s going to cost billions of dollars,” Mr. Garner said.
“My friend,” Mr. Rumsfeld replied, “if you think we’re going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.”
Come to think of it. the fact that we had this dumbass as Sec Def for 6 years and still lived to blog about it leads me to believe that maybe Bob Gates ain't so bad after all.
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SG - the bad part about this is that I read "a billion dollars" and I say to myself, "Pfff, chump change. Talk to me when it reaches a trillion dollars."
ReplyDeleteI don't like it, because it shows how astonishingly stupid Rumsfeld is, but I've become jaded by the immense numbers being thrown around about the economy.
Cliff
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. But then when you consider the fact that the funding for four more months in Iraq could have bailed out the Big 3 and then some and helped to save over 3 million jobs I think that provides a more proper context.
Of course it makes Rummy looks that much more idiotic that he didn't think we would spend a billion dollars total and now 5 years later we are spending more than 10 billion a month.