Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Baghdad, in Iraq right now

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Baghdad, in Iraq right now

Posted: 5/13/2004 1:28:23 AM EDT

Rumsfeld on Surprise Visit to Iraq

BAGHDAD (May 13) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday as the United States struggled to quell criticism over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military guards.

The embattled secretary, traveling under tight security to a country where more than 700 U.S. troops have died since last year, landed at Baghdad airport and later began meetings with senior U.S. military officers in the capital.

Rumsfeld denied on a 15-hour flight from Washington that the Pentagon was trying to cover up the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

"If anybody thinks that I'm (in Iraq) to throw water on a fire, they're wrong," he told reporters aboard his aircraft.

"We care about the detainees being treated right. We care about soldiers behaving right. We are about command systems working," he added.

Other U.S. defense officials said the sudden trip by Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, was triggered by the recent publication of photographs of U.S. military guards humiliating naked Iraqi prisoners.

"This is a terrible tragedy. We're not going to ever say it's not," said Myers. But "I think we absolutely have the high moral ground" in Iraq, he told reporters.

05/13/04 04:50 ET

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Typical Reuters, all no mention of the beheading of a American, just the prison situation...

Posted: 5/13/2004 2:00:04 AM EDT

[#1]

Rumsfeld just might be the best Sec. of Defense in my lifetime. Either that, or it's Dick Cheney.

Posted: 5/13/2004 2:06:29 AM EDT

[#2]

I gauge a politicians value by how much the European socialists and the liberal left hate them.
Rumsfeld is a good man.
-Steve

Posted: 5/13/2004 7:12:24 AM EDT

[#3]

He is taking way too much heat for the stinking prison pics. I am glad to see him INSIDE the combat area. He is making a positive statement with his vist .

Posted: 5/13/2004 7:26:06 AM EDT

[#4]

its all PR

Posted: 5/13/2004 7:29:33 AM EDT

[#5]

I hope he's there to crack some skulls and get all this "abuse" shit behind us so we can get back to the work of killing terrorists

Posted: 5/13/2004 7:37:49 AM EDT

[#6]

Here's the video of it.

66.232.154.15/051304/root_rumsfeld1_051304_300.wmv

66.232.154.15/051304/root_rumsfeld2_051304_300.wmv

Posted: 5/13/2004 7:39:13 AM EDT

[#7]

he's there to tell these morons, to keep up the interrogation policy and if i see any new pictures you're all getting the firing squad.

Posted: 5/13/2004 7:42:05 AM EDT

[#8]

That'll teach him to mind the store.....LOL.

GW: Here's your desert camouflage, helmet and Interceptor vest.

Rumsfeld: Wha...?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Posted: 5/13/2004 8:03:09 AM EDT

[#9]

I wonder if he took his golf clubs.

Posted: 5/13/2004 8:11:08 AM EDT

[#10]

The news media is going to play this prisoner abuse thing to the max and to cast as much bad light on GWB as they can while they can. The beheading of Nick Berg and the killing of the 4 USA contractors have pretty much fallen off the radar screen for most of the news media.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Baghdad, in Iraq right now

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