RUMSFELD: STATEMENTS THAT WAR IS ON TRACK ARE ON TRACK
10,000 Pronouncements of On-Trackness Reported Thus Far
At a Pentagon press briefing today, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said that official Pentagon statements that Operation Iraqi Freedom was on track were, in his words, on track.
In terms of the number and volume of statements we have made that the war is on track, we are exactly where we hoped to be at this point, Mr. Rumsfeld said. The frequency with which weve said were on track is definitely on track.
Responding to criticism that the Pentagon had not said that the war was on track often enough, Mr. Rumsfeld said that in the first ten days of the conflict he had already said that the war was on track well over ten thousand times.
To put that in perspective, that is over twice the number of times the Defense Department said we were on track at this point in the first Gulf War, Mr. Rumsfeld clarified.
But several retired military officials questioned Mr. Rumsfelds appraisal of his departments upbeat statements, including retired Army Sgt. Ray Collins, who said on CNN that the U.S. did not have a sufficient number of official spokesmen on the ground saying the war effort was on track.
If I were running Operation Iraqi Freedom, I would want at a minimum four thousand official spokesmen saying the war was on track around the clock, Sgt. Collins said.
In other news from his official briefing, Mr. Rumsfeld downplayed reports that there was a split between him and CENTCOM Commander-in-Chief Tommy Franks over the correct pronunciation of Quatar.
In terms of how to pronounce Qatar, Tommy Franks and I are completely on track, Mr. Rumsfeld said.
10,000 Pronouncements of On-Trackness Reported Thus Far
At a Pentagon press briefing today, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said that official Pentagon statements that Operation Iraqi Freedom was on track were, in his words, on track.
In terms of the number and volume of statements we have made that the war is on track, we are exactly where we hoped to be at this point, Mr. Rumsfeld said. The frequency with which weve said were on track is definitely on track.
Responding to criticism that the Pentagon had not said that the war was on track often enough, Mr. Rumsfeld said that in the first ten days of the conflict he had already said that the war was on track well over ten thousand times.
To put that in perspective, that is over twice the number of times the Defense Department said we were on track at this point in the first Gulf War, Mr. Rumsfeld clarified.
But several retired military officials questioned Mr. Rumsfelds appraisal of his departments upbeat statements, including retired Army Sgt. Ray Collins, who said on CNN that the U.S. did not have a sufficient number of official spokesmen on the ground saying the war effort was on track.
If I were running Operation Iraqi Freedom, I would want at a minimum four thousand official spokesmen saying the war was on track around the clock, Sgt. Collins said.
In other news from his official briefing, Mr. Rumsfeld downplayed reports that there was a split between him and CENTCOM Commander-in-Chief Tommy Franks over the correct pronunciation of Quatar.
In terms of how to pronounce Qatar, Tommy Franks and I are completely on track, Mr. Rumsfeld said.