Honest Rummy Saves the F-16

The unflinchingly honest Donald Rumsfeld dropped in on Iraqi leaders on Tuesday to warn "against political purges and cronyism that could spark 'lack of confidence or corruption in government.'"*

He would know a little about that, since today he was in Pakistan helping Lockheed Martin save its F-16 line. As the Washington Post reported a couple of weeks ago, production's been dropping for a while now, and Lockheed was going to close the plant if it didn't get new orders before the fall. Plus, there's a hidden bonus: If Pakistan buys the F-16s, India, their rival, is going to buy a hundred of them too.

*Rummy also expressed impatience over the time the Iraqis were taking to form a new government.