Monday, April 10, 2006

Rummy Recent slight differences of opinion have become apparent in the Bush Administration. Rice, in England, Concedes U.S. 'Tactical Errors' in Iraq - New York Times. Mistakes sure. Thousands - that sounds about about right to me. They're certainly were not a thousand - points of light - unless we're counting muzzle flashes. At this point the President didn't necessarily disagree Bush Defends Iraq Strategy but Admits Mistakes - New York Times. As an aside I thought it commendable of Sec. Rice to give up her cabin to British Foriegn Secretary Jack  Straw and I don't condemn him for taking it. They bonded, according to one of the press accounts of that junket, by reading through Cobra II together. But Secretary Rumsfeld doesn't believe we've made any real mistakes Rumsfeld Challenges Rice on 'Tactical Errors' in Iraq. Everything is going fine everything is going according to plan, or at least it will look better generations from now the divergent tones are struck Guardian Unlimited | Rumsfeld and Rice fall out over war tactics. There are two ways you can look at this. As proof of the man's essential divorce from the finer points of reality. From other perspectives; however, a functioning Iraq under U S control would certainly be nice, but a broken Iraq is the next best thing and preferable to a intact Iraq run by anyone else. Secretary Rumsfeld's view lies beached in madness, somewhere along those shores. But it turns out our Rummy in not history's only Rumi. There is also a Rumi named Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi - Wikipedia . While afixing a barcode to a recent book of his poems Forbidden Rumi: The Suppressed Poems of Rumi on Love, Heresy and Intoxication - Jalal Al-Din Rumi, I wondered if one Rumi could reach out to the other, across the centuries. Secretary Rumsfeld, I believe, along with the Vice President still harbors some conviction that weapons of mass destruction were in Saddam's hands and will be found yet. Rumi can offer some small advice on this mission, with the following poem of his: Search There Sometimes you get as frightened as a camel. Sometimes you get stuck in the mud like a hunted prey O young fool how long will you keep running away from yourself? In the end the thing will happen anyway Just go in the direction where there is no direction Go, search there -- Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (the Forbidden Rumi: the suppressed poems of Rumi on love heresy, and intoxication. translation an commentary by Nevit O. Ergin and Will Johnson. Rochester: Inner Traditions, 2006 . pg 77) 11:49:32 PM    comment [];trackback [];

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. 2006 Paul Bushmiller. Last update: 5/3/06; 3:21:27 PM.