>Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke declined to comment on the report.
По другим свeдeниям, онa скaзaлa буквaльно слeдующee нaсчeт xлопaнья двeрями и битья посуды (или нaоборот):
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke declined to comment, and said of Mr Rumsfeld's alleged reaction: "That is completely unlike Secretary Rumsfeld's behaviour"
А вот что Рамсфельд сказал вчера на брифинге по этому поводу
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct2001/t10152001_t1015sd.html
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Q: Mr. Secretary, Seymour Hersh, writing in the New Yorker, quotes sources as saying that the United States had Mullah Omar in its sights early in the campaign, and that because of the time it took and the advice of military lawyers, no action was taken. And he reported that this distressed you somewhat. What can you say about the truth of any of these -- of these reports?
Rumsfeld: Well, first, it is just -- I'm going to respond generically to this. It is practically impossible to know with certainty who is on the ground in any given location by name and serial number. It is possible from time to time to see what look to be military leadership elements moving, by the size of the group, by the kinds of vehicles, by the way they conduct themselves; you can make an educated guess that that is very likely a military leadership and command element. So with respect to that element of that report, which I have not had a chance to read, I must say, I would answer that way.
Second, it is true that there are, for reasonably valid reasons, lawyers who get engaged, not in specific targets so much but in the question of the appropriateness of categories, and offer their advice from time to time at various levels. They do it at the level of a CINC, they do it at the Joint Staff level and they do it at the OSD level, and I suspect they may do it in other places that I'm not aware of.
I have not experienced -- first of all, I'm not intimately knowledgeable about what preceded my awareness of that particular event, and I very likely will check. But I can assure you there was no -- nothing other than a desire to deal aggressively with command and control -- military command-and-control activities on the ground at the Dick Myers and Don Rumsfeld level.
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