Rumsfeld says Iraq no quagmire or guerrilla war
During a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld compared the postwar situation in Iraq to the difficult path taken by the United States after declaring its independence from Britain and before establishing a new Constitution and electing a president.
Rumsfeld said the United States faced ''a period of chaos and confusion'' in its early years, including a depression, rampant inflation, no stable currency and mob uprisings.
''It took eight years before the founders finally adopted our Constitution and inaugurated our first president,'' he said, adding later: ''Were we in a quagmire for eight years? I would think not. We were in a process ... evolving from a monarchy into a democracy.''
And the Iraqi Franklin would be ...
And the Iraqi Madison would be...
And the Iraqi Jefferson would be ...
And the Iraqi Declaration of Independence ... would have been in one of the vases? With the Federalist Papers?
Not to knock the Iraqis, but I think Rummy's historical analogy is a couple of bricks shy of a load.