- Daily Photo: Obama Jokes Around at G-20
- Blackwater gets replaced in Iraq
- Daily Photo: U.S. Marines Look Out for Taliban in Afghanistan
- Hillary Clinton the Tomboy and Her "Ah-Ha" Moment
- Obama Administration Sudan Envoy Headed to Region
- Daily Photo: Potential Flashpoint in Iraq
- Clinton Says New Afghanistan-Pakistan Plan Depends on Diplomacy
- Exclusive: Three Israeli Airstrikes Against Sudan
- Additional 4,000 Troops to Be Ordered to Afghanistan
- Daily Photo: Navy Submarine Trains in the Arctic
- Alarm Over North Korea Missile Prep
- Anti-Terror Stimulus? US Offers Rewards for Top Terrorists
- Daily Photo: Pakistani Women in Refugee Camp
- Condoleezza Rice Appears on "The Tonight Show"
- Diplomat and Aid Group Sound the Alarm on Darfur Camp Situation
- auto industry rescue
- Ballotwatch
- Biden, Joe
- Bush, George W.
- Clinton, Bill
- Clinton, Hillary
- Dodd, Chris
- Edwards, John
- Giuliani, Rudy
- Gravel, Mike
- Huckabee, Mike
- Hunter, Duncan
- Inauguration
- Iraq
- Kucinich, Dennis
- McCain, John
- Obama, Barack
- Palin, Sarah
- Paul, Ron
- Romney, Mitt
- Tancredo, Tom
- Thompson, Fred
- Veepstakes
- Vote 2008: Democrats
- Vote 2008: Republicans
- Washington
- White House
« Previous | Main | Next »
Romney Draws Fire for Seeming to Have Bought Rumsfeld's Iraq Line
Email
ShareJanuary 29, 2007 7:56 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: A top Republican presidential contender is facing Democratic criticism for not being more skeptical towards former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's early assessment that the Iraqi insurgency consisted simply of a "few dead enders."
"I think we all expected what Secretary Rumsfeld said -- there are a few dead-enders we need to sweep up and we'll be done. That's what we were expecting," former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., tells ABC News' Nightline in a portion of the interview that did not air on television. "I think we’ve been surprised by the fact that what has occurred is a far more vehement and extensive a battle than we ever imagined."
An aide to Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a former Reagan Navy Secretary who has opposed the war from the beginning, reacted to Romney's comments by pointing to Webb's Jan. 11 statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee in which he argued that what has happened in Iraq since the invasion was "both predicted and predictable."
While delivering last week's Democratic response to President Bush’s State of the Union, Webb reviewed the various warnings about invading Iraq that President Bush received prior to the start of the U.S.-led invasion.
"The president took us into this war recklessly," Webb said last week. "He disregarded warnings from the national security adviser during the first Gulf War, the chief of staff of the army, two former commanding generals of the Central Command, whose jurisdiction includes Iraq, the director of operations on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many, many others."
Romney argued in his Nightline interview that looking back does not help the United States go forward in Iraq.
"We can go back and say: 'Why didn't we have better planning? Why didn't we have more troops on the ground? Why didn't we contemplate the downsides as we were getting in?'" Romney asked rhetorically. "The truth is the answers to those questions don't tell us what to do today."
To see more of Terry Moran’s interview with Romney, tune in to Nightline at 11:35 p.m.
January 29, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (0)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Post a comment
