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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for Iraq War. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for Iraq War
by noteworthy at 8:33 am EST, Dec 3, 2006

This puts a new spin on Rumsfeld's exit.

The situation in Iraq has been evolving, and U.S. forces have adjusted, over time, from major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence.
In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what US forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.

You have to think about who is leaking the memo and what their objectives might be, though it certainly gives the appearance that he was dropped for disloyalty ... and perhaps a perceived unwillingness to "stay the course."

Not that this memo was actually a trigger for Bush; he was already interviewing Gates and had possibly made his decision. But it makes clear that a critical eye on Iraq was quite unwelcome.

The ideas collected here are not especially original; one gets the impression that the memo was drafted after a Pentagon skull session, based on an hour or so of brainstorming and a Lexis-Nexis search.

You'll even find some variations on Gary Brecher's ideas in the list:

Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us get through this difficult period.

RE: Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for Iraq War
by ubernoir at 9:13 am EST, Dec 3, 2006

start “taking our hand off the bicycle seat”

seems typically Rumsfeld to characterize an entire nation as a child
and with the “If you want more of something, reward it; if you want less of something, penalize it.”
the extraordinary arrogance of the man
junior highschool child psychology as foreign policy and counter-insurgancy strategy
or is it because Rumsfeld thinks Bush is an idiot, lets characterize the plan in morsels the President can consume
or more likely revealing of both

Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for Iraq War
by Decius at 11:35 am EST, Dec 3, 2006

The situation in Iraq has been evolving, and U.S. forces have adjusted, over time, from major combat operations to counterterrorism, to counterinsurgency, to dealing with death squads and sectarian violence.
In my view it is time for a major adjustment. Clearly, what US forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.

This memo is, frankly, strange. A wide assortment of contradictory options are sort of spread about without any apparent preference or analysis. Do we really make strategic decisions this way? Or was this memo created for public disclosure. Bush could very well pin this to a dart board.