Combative US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday received what may have been his most scathing questioning yet on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers decried what they see as the Pentagon's botched handling of Iraq.
Rumsfeld appeared at a hearing of the Senate's Armed Services Committee where one of the least forgiving questioners was Democratic US Senator Hillary Clinton, a perennial critic, who lashed the defense secretary for a "record of incompetence."
"We hear a lot of happy talk and rosy scenarios, but because of the administration's strategic blunders and, frankly, the record of incompetence in executing, you are presiding over a failed policy," Clinton told Rumsfeld.
Rumsfeld answered that "history will make a judgment" about his alleged misjudgments and missteps.
"Are there setbacks? Yes. Are there things that people can't anticipate? Yes. Does the enemy have a brain and continue to make adjustments on the ground, requiring our forces to continue to make adjustments? You bet. Is that going to continue to be the case? I think so," he said.
"Is this problem going to get solved in the near term about this long struggle against violent extremism?" asked Rumsfeld. "No, I don't believe it is, I think it's going to take some time."
Another Democrat, Carl Levin decried the rising sectarian violence, despite the heavy US military presence.
"Sectarian violence is not only on the rise, it has eclipsed the Sunni insurgency and the terrorism of al-Qaeda in Iraq, in terms of the toll it has taken and the threats to Iraq's chances of stability," Levin said.
The beleaguered defense secretary had tried to avoid appearing before Thursday's panel pleading a busy schedule, but gave in to a chorus of calls by Senate Democrats who insisted it was vitally important he appear to explain US policy in Iraq.
Rumsfeld urged lawmakers not to withdraw from Iraq too early, saying it would only embolden extremists and lead to an eventual US withdrawal from the Middle East.
"We can persevere in Iraq or we can withdraw prematurely, until they force us to make a stand nearer home," the defense chief said.
"It is true that there are people who are attempting to prevent that government from being successful," he said. "And they are the people who are blowing up buildings and killing innocent men, women and children, and taking off the heads of people on television. And the idea of their prevailing is unacceptable."
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
Myanmar yesterday published a parliamentary bill proposing the death sentence for those who detain or violently coerce people into working in online scam centers. Internet fraud factories have flourished in Myanmar, part of Southeast Asia’s scam economy, targeting Internet users worldwide with romance and cryptocurrency investment cons. The multibillion-dollar black market attracts many willing employees, but repatriated foreigners have also reported being trafficked to sites in Myanmar and tortured by scam center operators. The draft legislation would allow capital punishment for “violence, torture, unlawful arrest and detention, or cruel treatment against another person for the purpose of forcing them to commit online scams.” The
RSS