"It's Mine!" shouted Maisy. You stole it from me! Get out of my nest and get off of my tree!
(Anyone else remember that Dr. Seuss story? Please?)
Rumsfeld Dismisses Any Talk of a Reduced Role on Iraq Policy
By DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 -- The White House and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld moved quickly on Wednesday to contain an unusual public breach over Iraq policy, a day after he testily told European reporters that he was not consulted before a reorganization intended to give the White House more control over the occupation of Iraq.
Appearing at a NATO conference in Colorado Springs on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Rumsfeld tried to dismiss any talk of his diminished role in Iraq policy, suggesting at one point that reporters should concentrate on "something more important," like the World Series prospects of his hometown Chicago Cubs.
That tone contrasted with his harsh language on Tuesday, when he said President Bush and had never discussed with him the creation of the Iraq Stabilization Group, set up by Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser. He said that the first he heard of it was in a memorandum from Ms. Rice last week. In a seeming criticism of the White House he suggested that the National Security Council was finally focusing on doing what it should have been doing all along -- coordinating the work of the many government agencies dealing with Iraq.
He told reporters on Tuesday, "It's not quite clear to me why" Ms. Rice sent him a memorandum on the subject. When he was pressed on the question by a German broadcast reporter, he retorted: "I said I don't know. Isn't that clear? You don't understand English?"
