The credibility gap

"Credibility gap" was a phrase that gained popularity during the days of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.

But our man Rummy, one of the main vehicles of Dick Nixon's revenge on American democracy, takes the concept to the next level. By now, to believe anything Rummy says requires your entire skull cavity to be a gap. Or, alternatively, for your brain to be pickled in OxyContin.

Molly Ivins is happy to hear from Rummy that the situation in Iraq is "hunky-dory to tickety-boo":

"From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation," Rumsfeld said. "We do know, of course, that Al Qaeda has media committees. We do know they teach people exactly how to try to manipulate the media. They do this regularly. We see the intelligence that reports on their meetings. Now I can't take a string and tie it to a news report and then trace it back to an Al Qaeda media committee meeting. I am not able to do that at all."

No horsepoop? Then can I ask a question: If you’re able to monitor these media committee meetings, how come you can't find Osama bin Ladin?

But, Brother Rumsfeld warns us, "We do know that their goal is to try to break the will; that they consider the center of gravity of this—not to be in Iraq, because they know they can’t win a battle out there; they consider it to be in Washington, D.C., and in London and in the capitals of the Western world."

I'm sorry, I know we are not allowed to use the V-word in relation to Iraq, because so many brilliant neocons have assured us this war is nothing like Vietnam (Vietnam, lotsa jungle; Iraq lotsa sand—big difference). But you must admit that press conferences with Donny Rum are wonderfully reminiscent of the Five O’Clock Follies, those wacky but endearing daily press briefings on Southeast Asia by military officers who made Baghdad Bob sound like a pessimist.

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