By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 5, 2003; Page A15
[Rumsfeld and Powell both] said that Pentagon adviser Newt Gingrich had spoken on his own behalf in a recent speech when he called Powell's visit to Damascus "ludicrous" and charged that the State Department is "broken." Rumsfeld called widespread speculation that Gingrich was a stalking horse for his own views "nonsense." He said he did not know about Gingrich's remarks in advance, although he declined to criticize them because he said he had not read them.
Experts expected the feud to go on for some time, but noted that Rumsfeld's words did clear up one mystery: On Sunday, President Bush said that former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. forces 10 days ago, has been untruthful during interrogation sessions.
"We're learning that Tariq Aziz still doesn't know how to tell the truth," Bush told reporters outside his ranch here. "He didn't know how to tell the truth when he was in office. He doesn't know how to tell the truth when he's been -- as a captive."
"Well, that explains it," said Jonquil Q. Uruk-Hai, of the Wapshot Institute. "Aziz hasn't learned to tell the truth because the Pentagon is doing the teaching. That's like asking a hippo to teach ballet. It can be done, but it's unnatural and looks unattractive. If they never get him to be any more candid than Rumsfeld, Aziz won't even admit he's Iraqi." Asked if the State Department would be better equipped to teach people to tell the truth, Uruk-Hai replied "Not really. Their trouble is they know what the truth is but they've conditioned themselves not to tell it to anyone except to their bartenders and wives, in that order."