Al Kamen in the Washington Post reports on Newt Gingrich’s advice to Donald Rumsfeld in 2003. The same time as the Iraq war, remember?
Best of all, the “search” function at the Rumsfeld Papers site ( www.rumsfeld.com ) works very nicely. For example, if you type in “Gingrich,” up pops a note from Rumsfeld to top aide Larry Di Rita asking Di Rita to “Please see me” about a six-page memo that Newt Gingrich wrote in June 2003, three months after the Iraq invasion, titled “Seven Strategic Necessities.”
Gingrich, the newly suspended Fox News contributor and, if the water’s right, presidential candidate, wrote that “Palestine may present us with the challenge of trying to win a total war against an enemy hiding among civilians.” Hamas leaders talk about driving the Jews out of Israel, he wrote, calling that a “declaration of total war.”
“America has a sound doctrine for total war against an entire nation,” he wrote. “Dresden, Hamburg, Tokyo and Nagasaki are among the memories of how decisive Americans can be when faced with a threat of total war.”
“However America does not have a doctrine for total war against an enemy who is hiding behind a civilian population,” Gingrich continued. “Furthermore that civilian population is likely to be terrorized by the forces of total war and so simply appealing to their better interests is useless.” Rumsfeld put a small check mark next to that paragraph.
No, Gingrich was not really advocating nuking Gaza. He’s talking about a plan for helping Palestinians “who favor real democracy” and oppose the terrorists.
