Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is running the good-bye circuit. He is scheduled to leave office on December 18, handing the mantle of the Department of Defense to Robert Gates. On Friday, December 8, Mr. Rumsfeld said his official good-byes to the employees of the Pentagon. In what was described by the AP as an emotional farewell,
He spoke at length about his hopes that the United States not let Iraq and Afghanistan collapse.
"We have every chance in the world of succeeding in both those countries, but only if we have the patience and only if we have the staying power," he said. Asked about the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's recommendations for a change in approach to the Iraq war, Rumsfeld said none of the suggestions were new.
He said the Pentagon had sent its advice to the White House on possible new approaches in Iraq.
Over the weekend he made a surprise visit to troops in Iraq.
Rumsfeld, casually dressed in a gray jacket and an open-collar shirt, traveled to several different U.S. bases in the country, shaking hands and joking with troops.
"For the past six years, I have had the opportunity and, I would say, the privilege, to serve with the greatest military on the face of the Earth," Rumsfeld, 74, said. He was speaking to more than 1,200 soldiers and Marines at al-Asad, a sprawling air base in western Anbar province. ABC News
(Caveat: I hesitated to link to the last ABC News story above because it used the story as an excuse to tell the reader everything "bad" about Iraq, rather than actually focusing on the story. At one point I had to look back to see if I had somehow linked to a different story. Oh well, like Rumsfeld said, "Asked how he wants history to remember him, he said simply, "Better than the local press.")
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