RUMMY SPEAK

On May 4th, Rumsfeld gave a talk in Georgia and took a few questions from the audience. What's infuriating about his "answers" is the amount of ignorance and distraction he is peddling. Take this exchange as an example:


Q Is one of the goals of the U.S. in Iraq to provide a free economy or free enterprise economy in Iraq?

SEC. RUMSFELD: The new government, if -- they just have a new constitution. And a referendum was successful. The terrorists tried to stop it, and they failed. They just had an election in December 15th, and the terrorists tried to stop it, and they failed. They've just announced the top seven officials in their new government. The terrorists tried to stop it, and they failed. They're now going to be announcing the new ministries.

Then that new government and the parliament will fashion an Iraqi solution for their political situation, their economic situation and their security situation. And until they get in the saddle and get going, I don't think it's probably possible for us to characterize it.

I would say that what they have -- they didn't have anything like a free system -- free economic system before. But what -- anyone who goes around Iraq today -- most of the violence is in four out of the 18 provinces. One of them's Baghdad, so the bulk of the population is in those four. But if you look around, there's satellite dishes on every house. There's -- at night when the electricity is shut off, in some sections of the town, there's all kinds of electricity because they've all got -- (audio break) -- and what the new government will do precisely, I don't know.


First of all, the new constitution states that the people will own the oil and gas fields and that the federal and provincial governments will control them:

Article 108:

Oil and gas are the ownership of all the people of Iraq in all the regions and governorates.

Article 109:

First: The federal government with the producing governorates and regional governments shall undertake the management of oil and gas extracted from current fields provided that it distributes oil and gas revenues in a fair manner in proportion to the population distribution in all parts of the country with a set allotment for a set time for the damaged regions that were unjustly deprived by the former regime and the regions that were damaged later on, and in a way that assures balanced development in different areas of the country, and this will be regulated by law.


Even worse from the perspective of free-market worshippers, Iraq will not only have socialized medicine but also State-guaranteed minimum incomes:

Article 30:

First: The state guarantee to the individual and the family -- especially children and women -- social and health security and the basic requirements for leading a free and dignified life. The state also ensures the above a suitable income and appropriate housing.

Second: The State guarantees the social and health security to Iraqis in cases of old age, sickness, employment disability, homelessness, orphanage or unemployment, and shall work to protect them from ignorance, fear and poverty. The State shall provide them housing and special programs of care and rehabilitation. This will be organized by law.


I am sure that Rumsfeld knows these provisions of the constitution but he decided to pretend that he didn't.