Oh, my goodness, the terrorists are winning and everyone else is losing

Rumsfeld was interviewed by Sean Hannity, the only, um, journalist allowed to accompany him on his surprise visit to Iraq. He explained the unpopularity of Bush’s policies: “And this president is almost a victim of the success he has had in preventing another attack in our country, because people have allowed the nature of the threat to diminish in their minds. And I think that we ought not to.” Poor Bush, a victim of his own success.

Says that we shouldn’t judge Iraq based on how many people get killed: “Today, the president’s being measured on the amount of violence in Iraq, and basically in Baghdad. It’s three or four provinces out of 18 in one country. That is not the measure; that is the wrong measure. If that were to be the only metric or measure of success or failure, my goodness, then you’ve given the game to the enemy. All they have to do is keep violence up in Baghdad, and the media that’s there will say, ‘Oh, my goodness, the terrorists are winning and everyone else is losing.’ That’s not it. But, regrettably, there are not good metrics to determine how it’s actually going on, what’s happening.” So, um, I’m pretty sure that means we’re winning, and pay no attention to the suicide bomb attack in Baghdad that killed 70 people this morning, because that is not the measure, that is the wrong measure and if we pay attention to the 70 dead (and 230+ wounded), “for some I could only find their heads,” my goodness you’ve given the game to the enemy.

Oh, and he says he “skimmed” the IGS report.