Rummy's honest appraisal not for public consumption

We're all familiar with what Donald "Stay-the-course" Rumsfeld says publicly. Now we get a glimpse of what he really thought, thanks to an internal memo leaked to the NY Times, and... guess what? It would seem that Rumsfeld is not truly incapable of recognizing reality after all... it's just that he's unwilling to tell the truth when it would embarrass BushCo.

“In my view it is time for a major adjustment,” wrote Mr. Rumsfeld, who has been a symbol of a dogged stay-the-course policy. “Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.”

Nor did Mr. Rumsfeld seem confident that the administration would readily develop an effective alternative. To limit the political fallout from shifting course, he suggested the administration consider a campaign to lower public expectations.

“Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis,” he wrote. “This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not ‘lose.’ ”

“Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) — go minimalist,” he added.

[...]

Another option calls for redeploying American troops from “vulnerable positions” in Baghdad and other cities to safer areas in Iraq or Kuwait, where they would act as a “quick reaction force.” That idea is similar to a plan suggested by Representative John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, a plan that the White House has soundly rebuffed.

In other words, when it comes to the handling of the Iraq debacle, stay the course -- just keep lying to the public -- whatever it takes to keep from admitting the obvious, that Iraq is FUBAR.