For the record,
Rumsfeld keeps his cool

Give Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld credit for going on the record with the press more than most of his predecessors. On his grueling trip from Washington to Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and India, leaving Friday and returning Monday, he briefed the press once on the airplane to Moscow, once at each of the stops, and finally on the plane on the way back. Shortly after each, transcripts popped up on the Pentagon's Web site.

Even the quips and asides were recorded. When a reporter prefaced a question: "You were adamant ... " Rumsfeld interrupted: "I wasn't adamant ..." Reporter: "Yes you were." Rumsfeld answered the question, then concluded: "And I'm not adamant, I'm just accurate." Later, a reporter referred to something Rumsfeld "fervently believed." Rumsfeld quipped: "I was adamant, and now I'm fervent? I think of myself as measured."

On the final leg, after meeting with nearly a dozen Russian, Uzbek, Tajik, Pakistani and Indian leaders, Rumsfeld opened the briefing: "Give me a tough question. I've had an easy weekend."

Richard Halloran

---