Defending Rumsfeld, Novak cherry-picked from Sen. Clinton's list of past "rosy picture" statements

In his nationally syndicated August 10 column, Robert D. Novak claimed that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had "apt[ly]" asserted that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) would have a "dickens of a time" finding examples of Rumsfeld's making "rosy statements" about Iraq. Novak asserted that "among the 'many' statements to the Armed Services Committee" Clinton cited in a statement she inserted into the official hearing record, none was "more triumphant than [Rumsfeld's] 2004 comment: 'I do believe we're on the right track.' " However, of the 13 instances Clinton cited, Novak considered only four examples of Rumsfeld's testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, ignoring the statements from congressional hearings, media interviews, and other forums. For instance, Clinton quoted Rumsfeld claiming before the invasion that the Iraq war "could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months," and stating in August 2003, "My impression is that the war was highly successful."

Although Rumsfeld's comment came in response to Clinton's statement that "[t]his is not 2002, 2003, 2004-5, when you appeared before this committee and made many comments and presented many assurances that have, frankly, proven to be unfulfilled," Rumsfeld did not limit his assertion that he had "never painted a rosy picture" to statements before the Senate Armed Services Committee. After Rumsfeld's testimony, Clinton promised "to submit for the record a number of the secretary's former comments," also without referring to Armed Services Committee testimony exclusively. Similarly, earlier in the hearing, Clinton stated that Rumsfeld had spun "rosy scenarios" about Iraq without such a limitation: "[W]e 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."

As Clinton promised at the end of her exchange with Rumsfeld, she inserted into the official hearing record a statement that included several instances of what she called the defense secretary painting a "rosy picture" of the situation in Iraq.

Some of the examples Clinton cited:

• September 30, 2003: House Appropriations Committee hearing

RUMSFELD: My impression is that the war was highly successful.

• February 4, 2004: Senate Armed Services Committee hearing

RUMSFELD: The increased demand on the force we are experiencing today is likely a "spike," driven by the deployment of nearly 115,000 troops in Iraq. We hope and anticipate that that spike will be temporary. We do not expect to have 115,000 troops permanently deployed in any one campaign.

• June 23, 2005: House Armed Services Committee hearing

RUMSFELD: The level of support from the international community is growing.

• March 9, 2006: Senate Appropriations Committee hearing

SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D-WV): Mr. Secretary, how can Congress be assured that the funds in this bill won't be used to put our troops right in the middle of a full-blown Iraqi civil war?

RUMSFELD: Senator, I can say that certainly it is not the intention of the military commanders to allow that to happen. The -- and to repeat, the -- at least thus far, the situation has been such that the Iraqi security forces could for the most part deal with the problems that exist."

• February 1, 2006: Department of Defense news briefing

QUESTION: One clarification on "the long war." Is Iraq going to be a long war?

RUMSFELD: No, I don't believe it is.

• March 30, 2003: ABC's This Week

RUMSFELD: We know where [Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.

• February 20, 2003: PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER (anchor): Do you expect the invasion, if it comes, to be welcomed by the majority of the civilian population of Iraq?

RUMSFELD: There's obviously the Shia population in Iraq and the Kurdish population in Iraq have been treated very badly by Saddam Hussein's regime, they represent a large fraction of the total. There is no question but that they would be welcomed.

• February 7, 2003: Town-hall meeting with U.S. troops in Aviano, Italy

RUMSFELD: And it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.

From Novak's August 10 nationally syndicated column:

Because of low seniority, Clinton got the floor near the end of the three and one-half hour session. Other senators posed serious questions about policy and operations, and even partisan Democrats wrapped comments around questions to the secretary. But Clinton made no pretense, using most of six minutes allocated each senator to assault Rumsfeld, campaign-style. She concluded: ''Given your track record, Secretary Rumsfeld, why should we believe your assurances now?''

Taken aback, Rumsfeld was silent momentarily before uttering a favorite phrase: ''My goodness!'' He then compared his approach to the senator's: ''I've tried to make notes and to follow the prepared statement you've presented.'' He instantly produced a masterful point-by-point rebuttal.

Clinton briefly looked startled, then told Rumsfeld: ''This is not 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, when you appeared before this committee and made many comments and presented many assurances that have, frankly, proven to be unfulfilled --'' That was too much for Rumsfeld, who interrupted: ''Senator, I don't think that's true. I have never painted a rosy picture.'' He added that ''you'd have a dickens of a time'' finding ''excessively optimistic'' statements. ''I understand this is tough stuff.''

With no time left to speak, she put Rumsfeld's allegedly rosy statements in the record. ''We didn't have a 'dickens of a time,' '' a Clinton aide told this column. But Rumsfeld's characterization was apt. Of 13 examples mined by Clinton's staff, only four were among the ''many'' statements to the Armed Services Committee. They are no more triumphant than this 2004 comment: ''I do believe we're on the right track.''

Many of the supposedly false claims Clinton attributed to Rumsfeld are subject to interpretation. At the end of 2002, he said on CNN's ''Larry King Live'' in respect to Afghanistan: ''The Taliban are gone. The al Qaeda are gone.'' In truth, the Taliban government had been dispersed and the al Qaeda guerrilla camps were demolished. Clinton omitted that Rumsfeld added: ''It's not going to be a perfectly tidy place.''