Rummy's excuse for trying to scam the press

Not that he's found it so terribly hard to do, so far.  This from the Department of Defense Web site: Press Exaggerations Test American Will 03/07/06.

The will of the American people is the center of gravity for the war on terror, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during a Pentagon news conference today.

Exaggerated reporting is giving the American people a false picture of what is happening in Iraq, the secretary said. "Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side," he said. "It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors, all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq."

In PentagonSpeak, "center of gravity" means the most decisive element of the war.  It's a real concept, used in the Clausewitzian military theory that's become sacred to the American officer corps.

But Rummy's use of it here is frivolous.  It's just an excuse to try to scam the public with phony stories and claims.