Over at Atrios' place I saw this....
"I have to say that Rummy's assertion today that it would have been a mistake to go after Bin Laden before 9/11 because 9/11 would have happened anyway but it would have then be seen as some sort of just retaliation by Bin Laden's people is truly one of the weirdest things I've heard... I guess that's part of the patented Rumsfeld "outside the box" thinking..."
Now, I haven't been watching the hearings. I don't know what the context is here and entirely what was said.
But to me this is more than weird. These guys have been spinning like crazy trying to find a way to justify their negligence pre-9/11. You had the chimp himself weighing in on that today. So it is clear they are throwing out everything they can think of and trying to find something credible.
This statement by Rummy seems to me to be a new low. Like he's just given up. I mean this has to be the absolute bottom of the barrel rationalization. If this is what they have to work with, they are truly screwed.