The claim that a "Pentagon Unit has drafted a report" on U.S. radio broadcasts into Iran is incorrect in every respect. An individual DoD employee -- because of specific language skills -- was asked by an interagency committee on Iran policy to monitor and personally evaluate U.S. broadcasting into Iran. She did so. There was no "Pentagon report."
The charge made that there is a "gambit" underway by the Pentagon to take control of Iranian broadcasts is simply untrue.
2. SUBJECT: Planning For Post-War Iraq:
FALSE CLAIM:
Secretary Rumsfeld "had forbidden military strategists to plan for securing postwar Iraq" and "threatened to fire" anyone who did so. (E.g. "Fire Rumsfeld," The Buffalo News, 9/15/2006)
FACT:
The general quoted to support this claim, Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, disputed the original article used as a source, explaining it was a "manipulation of my words to stir controversy."
The U.S. military began planning for post-Saddam Iraq in 2002. Planning included input from and consultation with all parts of the U.S. Government - including the Secretary's own policy office, the State Department, and the National Security Council.
A group of American and Allied officers at Central Command was specifically assigned the task of preparing for "Phase IV" - the transition from major combat to security and stability operations.
In January 2003, after these months of preparation, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance was created to plan for and facilitate the administration of post-Saddam Iraq.
3. SUBJECT: General Eric Shinseki:
FALSE CLAIM:
Secretary Rumsfeld "fired the man who would not be silenced," General Eric Shinseki. (E.g. "Intimidation And Deception," Chattanooga Times Free Press, 9/14/2006)
FACT:
Secretary Rumsfeld did not fire Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki. In fact, General Shinseki completed his full four year term as service chief and retired on schedule.
Serving longer would have been extraordinary -- the only two men to serve as Army Chief of Staff for more than four years in the entire 103-year history of the position were Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Gen. George Marshall.
4. SUBJECT: Guantanamo Bay:
FALSE CLAIM:
"President Bush finally has some real terrorists in Guantánamo Bay." ("A Sudden Sense of Urgency," The New York Times, 9/ 7/2006)
FACT:
Since its inception, terrorists that have been held at Guantánamo Bay have included personal bodyguards of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda recruiters, trainers, and facilitators, and Mohamed al-Kahtani, believed to be the intended 20th hijacker for the September 11th attacks.
That these men are terrorists intent on doing America harm is not a simply an assertion made by the U.S. government, but something many detainees themselves have claimed -- indeed boasted - about:
In open commission hearings on March 1, Mr. Al Bahlul boasted five times that he was a member of Al Qaeda involved in an ongoing war against America.
In open commission hearings on April 27, Mr. Al Sharbi said, "I'm going to make this easy for you guys: I'm proud of what I did and there isn't any reason of hiding ... I fought against the United Stated. I took up arms."
Fifteen individuals held at Guantanamo are known to have again taken up arms against the United States after their release.
5. SUBJECT: Secretary Rumsfeld's Speech To The American Legion:
FALSE CLAIM:
Secretary Rumsfeld's "compared critics of the administration to those who sought to appease Hitler in the buildup to World War II." (E.g. "The Islamofascists," Newsweek, 9/11/2006)
FACT:
Secretary Rumsfeld did not once mention critics of the Iraq war -- much less did he compare those critics to appeasers of Hitler.
A September 19 correction in The New York Times noted, "He did not call the critics 'appeasers.'"
The Secretary recounted the unfortunate history of the 1930s because success in the current war requires a clear understanding of the lessons and mistakes of the past.
The Secretary believes that dismissing real and gathering threats while focusing on American imperfections -- rather than on the nature of the enemy -- can undermine our nation's ability to prevail in what will be a long and difficult struggle against violent extremists. (Sec. Rumsfeld, Address To American Legion, 8/29/2006).
