Rumsfeld Savors Sudden Turn of Events

Just last week Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was a besieged Cabinet member defending his war plan against critics who said it was light on troops.

So Wednesday was Rumsfeld’s moment. In remarks crafted and honed over the morning, he opened a Pentagon briefing by announcing that “the tide is turning.”

Then, quoting George Washington and comparing the felling of statues of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad to the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, the feisty Rumsfeld telegraphed, but did not declare, victory.

“We are seeing history unfold, events that will shape the course of a country, the fate of a people, and potentially the future of the region,” he said. “Saddam Hussein is now taking his rightful place alongside Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Ceausescu in the pantheon of failed, brutal dictators, and the Iraqi people are well on their way to freedom.

“The Iraqi people are understandably elated at the prospect of life without Saddam Hussein. We said from the beginning that he was finished. Now they are daring to believe it.”

Early in the morning, several Defense Department officials said, as the pictures began airing on CNN of jubilant Baghdad residents, it was clear that Rumsfeld would give a “turning point” speech, an address capturing a moment in history. As he spoke, the “V word” -- not victory, but vindication -- could be heard throughout the outer corridor of Pentagon power known as the E-ring.

The taking of Baghdad marked the second time since Sept. 11, 2001, that Rumsfeld has savored success in a military campaign after criticism of early setbacks.

When Kabul fell three months into the war in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld chided reporters that he hadn’t heard the term “quagmire” in a while. Asked Wednesday whether he felt vindicated, Rumsfeld, returning to the trademark smile and banter he had omitted since the war in Iraq began, tried not to gloat.

“You’re right, there have been a lot of people who’ve suggested that the force was undersized and that they went too fast and they should have had a long air war first,” Rumsfeld said. “It’s not a matter for me to be vindicated. I happen to think that Gen. Franks and his team have done an absolutely superb job.”

Rumsfeld has consistently referred to the war plan as “Tommy Franks’ plan,” crediting the U.S. Central Command chief directing the war, but Pentagon officials and military analysts say it has his strong imprint. The secretary is said to have reduced troop numbers and increased the campaign’s emphasis on speed and air power to compensate for a force on the ground that many Army officers complained was too small.

Vice President Dick Cheney seemed to acknowledge Rumsfeld’s role, giving the Defense secretary top billing in congratulatory comments Wednesday while speaking to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in New Orleans. The plan often had been second-guessed, Cheney noted.

“Yet the conclusion of the war will mark one of the most extraordinary military campaigns ever conducted,” Cheney said. “In the early days of the war, the plan was criticized by some retired military officers embedded in TV studios. But with every day and every advance by our coalition forces, the wisdom of that plan becomes more apparent. Secretary Rumsfeld, Gen. Franks, Gen. [Richard B.] Myers and Gen. [Peter] Pace at the Pentagon -- and their subordinates -- have done a superb job.”