Rumsfeld ReappointedNew Definition of "Bootscraper"

For some reason, there is something that really bugs me about Mr. Rumsfeld.  It isn't that he was reappointed as Secretary of Defense.  No, it's not the fact that he participated in lying to the American people about the rationale for the war in Iraq.  It's not that he has failed to atone for, and may even have endorsed, the atrocities at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere.  It isn't even the fact that he pressured the CIA to come up with reports that supported the Administration's policies, regardless of the truth of the matter. 

What bothers me about Rumsfeld is that, prior to the latest invasion of Fallujah, he told the Press that he expected low civilian casualties.  That statements bothers me because it is dishonest.  It is a statement that implies something good about an important matter, but that cannot be verified. 

As I started to write this, I scanned the 'net for reports on the civilian casualties in Fallujah.  There are many such reports, but they cite wildly different numbers, and they all point out that the numbers are not reliable.  The US government steadfastly refuses to provide such figures.  My opinion on this is, if you are not going to provide the numbers to back up your claims, then you should not make the claim in the first place.  To do so is to commit a kind of dishonesty.

You can scrape the boot all you want, but the mud does not go away; you just keep it outside where you don't have to look at it.