White House Praises Rumsfeld
Rummy is "Doubleplusgood," McClellan says.

Link.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House gave a new vote of confidence on Friday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld amid growing criticism of him from members of President Bush's own Republican Party.

"Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a great job leading our efforts at the Department of Defense to win the war on terrorism and to help bring about a free and peaceful Iraq, and the president is focused on working closely with him on those matters," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan...

Rumsfeld got himself into trouble last week by appearing to brush off a soldier headed to Iraq who complained that military vehicles did not have sufficient armor and troops were having to piece together scraps of metal for extra protection.

"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time," Rumsfeld had told the soldier in Kuwait.

Little more than two weeks ago, Bush told Rumsfeld that he could stay on as defense secretary in the president's second term.

The thinking behind the decision was not to change leaders while the United States is at war, even though many in Washington blame Rumsfeld for failing to recognize and prepare for a determined Iraqi insurgency. More than 1,000 Americans have died in combat in Iraq.

McClellan said Rumsfeld was responding to troop concerns.

"Secretary Rumsfeld cares deeply about our men and women in uniform, and I think that is reflected by the way he goes and visits directly with those who serve, particularly those in combat zones, and he listens to those concerns, and that's what the president expects," McClellan said.

Scottie went on to say that "Eurasia was our friend, Eastasia was our enemy, that we'd ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia, and that Eastasia was assisting in a significant way as a valued member of the "Coalition of the Willing," although McClellan didn't specify how...um...Eurasia was contributing. In addition, he revealed that "possibly credible evidence existed, proving that" Saddam Hussein transported a large number of unknown commodities, possibly "weapons of mass destruction," to the Social Security Administration in the months and days leading up to the invasion.

McClellan ended his statement by noting that the sugar ration had been increased by a half kilo a month--then he concluded with an odd non-sequitur: "Now watch this drive."

We're still trying to determine the significance that...