Newsweek
September 18, 2006

For The Record

Your depiction of Donald Rumsfeld's address to the American Legion is inaccurate. On the perspectives page and in "The 'Islamofascists' " (Sept. 11) you misrepresent his remarks as having "compared critics of the administration to those who sought to appease Hitler in the buildup to World War II." Rumsfeld did not say that. In fact, he never mentioned any critics of the Iraq war in his remarks. Instead, Rumsfeld's remarks were an effort to remind people of the similarities between past and current periods in U.S. history. He warned against a mentality of dismissing real and gathering threats while focusing nearly exclusively on American imperfections—a mentality that could undermine our nation's ability to prevail in what will be a long and difficult struggle against violent extremists. We invite readers to view the full text of the remarks at www.defenselink.mil/speeches.

BRYAN WHITMAN, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, U.S. Defense Department, Washington