Iron Ranger, Barry, JR...etc.. can you take your off topic 'anti American or not' discussion off the board or to another thread, please? It's an old one that's permeated nearly half the threads here and frankly, continued bickering on that subject will derail the original intent of this thread.

On topic- if Rumsfield said the things he's purported to have said about the British and our alliance... .well, he's not the most diplomatic soul, is he? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 03-12-2003, 01:36 PM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

On the other hand, here is a commentary by George Will about Rumsfeld on the ABC News website:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/ThisW...ll_030209.html

So there are 2 sides to this issue.

Mark

Interesting commentary - and from a man I respect.

Maybe it is time for diplomats to start saying what they mean without layers of meaning.

Sure would be simpler for me to follow.

I am not a Rumsfeld fan by any means. But sometimes we have to lay cards on the table and deal with that.

"Saying it like it is" is wonderful and refreshing in politics - but "saying it like you think it is" or "saying it like you wish it is" and offending many of your allies to boot is just plain dumb.

Why should a 'leader' cause pain when it's unnecessary or unhelpful?

This may help people to understand the effect on Tony Blair.

Ta! It seemed appropriate. ;)

Granted, the man is as subtle as a steamroller, and not familiar with kindness, but who do you propose we replace him with? And would that look like a weakness?

I am not fond of him in the least, by the way, just playing devil's advocate.