Rumsfeld takes issue with Obama's remark about Afghan troops

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"As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

-- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,

Reporting from Washington - Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took exception Wednesday to President Obama's assertion that the Bush administration rebuffed commanders' repeated requests for more troops in Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld, who oversaw the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, said he was unaware of "a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006," while he served under President George W. Bush.

"Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as secretary of Defense, deserves a response," Rumsfeld said in a written statement.

"There was a saying when I got there: If you're in Iraq and you need something, you ask for it," McKiernan said in an interview after being fired this year. "If you're in Afghanistan and you need it, you figure out how to do without it."

Asked about Rumsfeld's assertion, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded, "You go to war with the secretary of Defense that you have" -- a clear reference to Rumsfeld's famous remark that "you go to war with the Army you have."

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