Rumsfeld will be buried in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 30, 2021
Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" has been a much punchier legacy than "creating a secret taskforce inside the Pentagon whose job was to cherry pick bad intelligence in order to deceive the American people, congress and our allies into supporting a pointless war."
— Reinstated Doorknob Licker (@agraybee) June 30, 2021
I worked with Donald Rumsfeld as Poland's minister of defence during the Iraq war 2005-2007 and I agree with this assessment. The man was a spiteful prig who landed the U.S. and its allies into a sea of unnecessary trouble.https://t.co/6jud3ijR0N
— Radek Sikorski MEP (@radeksikorski) July 1, 2021
Because there’s been too much terrible history to remember since the Iraq War, a refresher from George Packer:
… Rumsfeld was the worst secretary of defense in American history. Being newly dead shouldn’t spare him this distinction. He was worse than the closest contender, Robert McNamara, and that is not a competition to judge lightly… Rumsfeld was the chief advocate of every disaster in the years after September 11. Wherever the United States government contemplated a wrong turn, Rumsfeld was there first with his hard smile—squinting, mocking the cautious, shoving his country deeper into a hole. His fatal judgment was equaled only by his absolute self-assurance. He lacked the courage to doubt himself. He lacked the wisdom to change his mind.
Rumsfeld was working in his office on the morning that a hijacked jet flew into the Pentagon. During the first minutes of terror, he displayed bravery and leadership. But within a few hours, he was already entertaining catastrophic ideas, according to notes taken by an aide: “best info fast. Judge whether good enough [to] hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] @ same time. Not only UBL [Osama bin Laden].” And later: “Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.” These fragments convey the whole of Rumsfeld: his decisiveness, his aggression, his faith in hard power, his contempt for procedure. In the end, it didn’t matter what the intelligence said. September 11 was a test of American will and a chance to show it.
Rumsfeld started being wrong within hours of the attacks and never stopped. He argued that the attacks proved the need for the missile-defense shield that he’d long advocated. He thought that the American war in Afghanistan meant the end of the Taliban. He thought that the new Afghan government didn’t need the U.S. to stick around for security and support. He thought that the United States should stiff the United Nations, brush off allies, and go it alone. He insisted that al-Qaeda couldn’t operate without a strongman like Saddam. He thought that all the intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was wrong, except the dire reports that he’d ordered up himself. He reserved his greatest confidence for intelligence obtained through torture. He thought that the State Department and the CIA were full of timorous, ignorant bureaucrats. He thought that America could win wars with computerized weaponry and awesome displays of force…
By the time Rumsfeld was fired, in November 2006, the U.S., instead of securing peace in one country, was losing wars in two, largely because of actions and decisions taken by Rumsfeld himself. As soon as he was gone, the disaster in Iraq began to turn around, at least briefly, with a surge of 30,000 troops, a policy change that Rumsfeld had adamantly opposed. But it was too late. Perhaps it was too late by the early afternoon of September 11…
Fun Fact. Rumsfeld got the famed "Unknown Knowns" saying from a USAF 0-6 during a JFCOM visit. (He actually had her repeat it slowly, so he could write it down, but he never gave her credit.) https://t.co/duiBVJDCdJ
— Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) June 30, 2021
Quintessential historical factoid about Donald Rumsfield: He bought Mount Misery – the plantation where Frederick Douglass was sent to be "broken" by Edward Covey – as a summer home.
— Rachel Hope Cleves (@RachelCleves) June 30, 2021
a thing about Rumsfeld is that he went from college republican in the Goldwater era to mid level Nixon staffer to professional NatSec guy, with the Iraq War being the crescendo of his career. very little about why he was awful was uniquely his; he was a movement product
— Gorilla Warfare (again) (@MenshevikM) June 30, 2021
yes, he and that whole crew taught america that you can have a suit and a tie and a fancy pedigree and a haircut to set your watch by and use all the terminology and have all the confidence and be completely incompetent at your job.
lotta people paid for that lesson. https://t.co/IPeLk1V1Nx
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) July 1, 2021
rumsfeld lived life like the factory guy who puts the WARNING: RISK OF DECAPITATION / DEATH label on lawnmower decks and continues to lose fingers shoving his hands into the blades
— kilgore trout, dna harvester (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 30, 2021
Was thinking this a week or so ago, reminded of it by Rumsfeld’s death: conservatives never talk about terrorism anymore.
Except to deny their own.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 1, 2021
my guess is they wriggle through the crack by pointing out what was bad was the american troops he got killed but no biggie on all the iraqis so “let’s call it a wash, at least he tried”
— kilgore trout, dna harvester (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 30, 2021
But seriously:
The death of Donald Rumsfeld today drives home the urgency of another thing: accountability. It’s not just the detainees who are aging—so are the architects of the CIA’s torture program, and those who authorized it. They should be held accountable before they die. (2/2)
— Gail Helt (@ghelt) June 30, 2021
Jim, Foolish Literalist
profiles of Rumsfeld and the Bush administration would frequently contain some phrase like “master bureaucratic player” and “no one’s better at the inside politics of an administration”. I never knew what the hell that meant, then finally one article, maybe a book– I bought a lot of books back then, even read a lot of them!– laid it all out. He was a passive-aggressive, uncooperative asshole. Pretended to have forgotten to loop people in, stall giving answers he didn’t want to give, petty bullshit. They made him sound like the Talleyrand of the Pentagon, he was a jumped up Dwight Schrute.
As I recall, he iced out Condi Rice in particular, preferring to manipulate the Shrubb through Cheney. She came off as weak, whiny and ineffectual.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
that’s an interesting turn of phrase
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Only the best people
Ruckus
Well at least he’s dead.
Too bad for the rest of us he didn’t die in his mid/late 60s.
What is it about life that the biggest shitheads seem to always last 2-3 decades too long?
Mike in NC
Marc Thiessen gave the war criminal Von Rumsfeld a verbal blowjob in the Washington Post today. Comments were cruel.
dmsilev
@Mike in NC: The comments are the only reason to read his columns.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Condoleeza Rice may have been a smart, competent professional, but she did not have the stature and clout to contend with Cheney and Rumsfeld. I think that’s why she was chosen for Bush.
In their book on the planning and execution of the Iraq invasion, Cobra II (2006), authors Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor have a lot to say about Rumsfeld’s character and methods. None of it is good.
trollhattan
California’s biggest wildfire is centered about three miles from Weed, California and has immolated a large number of pot farms.
That concludes the CA wildfire highlight portion of this evening’s program.
Jerzy Russian
Christ, what an asshole!
Has anyone used the name “Rumsfailed” in any of the obituaries yet? If I were in charge of things, I would have his legal name changed to that.
trollhattan
@Mike in NC:
They run that MF’s column in my town’s last newspaper and it drives me to distraction. He’s a crap writer with crap ideas taking space from somebody with talent and good ideas.
George
I am unlurking to note that Rumsfeld seems to have been a psychopath, which would explain his behavior and refusal to accept responsibility.
Currently I am dealing with a psychopathic supervisor, and much of the way sane people describe Rumsfeld now that he has cooled to room temperature meshes with what I have observed in the behavior of my boss. It explains a lot.
Wag
When The Atlantic is good, it is very good.
This obit for Rumsfeld nicely sums up the man. Almost as well as the Hunter S Thompson obit for Nixon, also published in The Atlantic
Ken
The historical movement that will lead to the society of Logan’s Run gradually takes shape…
Craig
That first Packer quote is great. I remember looking at Rumsfeld and the great press he got and just not understanding how people could write shit like that. Duh, The Village. Clearly the guy was an incompetent shit heel. That whole …with the Army you might want? You’re in charge asshole, this IS the Army you wanted, you’re just crappy at your job.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@George: My take on Rumsfailed is was the ultimate Tool; an overly aggressive dimwit that other people can get wound up to attack things because Rumsfailed didn’t like thinking.
Steeplejack
@George:
Condolences on the bad boss. Protect yourself.
Brachiator
So this muthafucker was hatching plans for the bullshit Iraq war from the goddam beginning.
Fuck him.
Craig
@Brachiator: those PNAC assholes were on that back in 98.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: I ate in a diner by Weed one time. Fox News was playing. Don’t remember much else about it. Dark wood, maroon vinyl.
Oh, and I took a picture for you all.
sukabi
@Brachiator: he was one of the assholes behind The Project for a New American Century….they tried to get Clinton to implement it while he was president, and yes it advocated for taking out Saddam….
lurker
@Ken: it’s a little disturbing that your comments prompts the thought ‘social model from Logan’s Run might be a good idea’
that is a terrible model for a society, and yet there are enough really crazy things going on that it seems more and more reasonable these days.
le sigh as they say these days…
Major Major Major Major
@Ken: I do enjoy protein from the sea
craigie
Maybe let people hang around to age 60 and call it Logan’s Stroll.
Jay
@trollhattan:
Lytton’s gone, 2 dead so far, hundreds missing, over a thousand evacuated.
Jay
@sukabi:
as Def/Sec he wasted billions on “high tech” weapons projects that were epic fails and tossed into the trash bin, while ignoring the basics.
ian
@Wag: Thank you for publishing that. I feel both smarter and dirtier for reading
*post, not publish… brain work good!!
craigie
@Wag:
From the Atlantic article:
What other Republican President does this seem to describe oh so well?
NotMax
Amendment XXVIII
No person at any time named Donald shall henceforth be permitted to hold any office of trust or honor in the government of the United States of America.
//
Jay
Now Kamloops is burning, Strawberry Ridge, which burned out in 2003, and now Valleyview.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@NotMax: A constitutional amendment DOES over-ride the bill of attainder. I would add a codicil for stripping the entire family (except for the niece) of their assets though. I mean 99% of them are stolen or laundered at this point.
Sign me up.
Brachiator
@craigie:
Woodrow Wilson, who was racist scum.
Oh wait, not a Republican.
Mary G
Ex-Minister Sikorski nails it:
This fits so many Republicans, not just Rumsfailed. The whole GWB administration for sure, but many of TFG’s gang, too.
Poe Larity
Greatest Strategic Mistakes in US History do not come easily, but Rummy did his damndest to bring us a couple of them.
Jay
Fair Economist
@trollhattan:
Are you saying they’re getting lit there?
(ducks)
KSinMA
“Spiteful prig” works for me. Like others, I can hardly begin to express . . . can’t even fill in the blank.
Mike G
Donald Rumsfeld is survived by the love of his life, the Iraq War.
Ten Bears
A Good Republican: dead. The only good republican …
Warblewarble
Finally Rumsfailed did one thing to make the world a better place,
prostratedragon
@Jay:
Article about Lytton from yesterday afternoon
Soprano2
@Brachiator: According to Richard Clarke’s book, W was trying to figure out a rationale to justify invading Iraq from the beginning of his presidency. The 9-11 attack gave him the pretext he needed to do it.
YY_Sima Qian
Chinese social media mentions of Donald Rumseld’s death are highlighting a quote he is supposed to have said wrt the CCP (probably apocryphal): “As long as I am alive, the CCP regime will not see its centenary!” Rumsfeld died on 6/30, the CCP celebrated its centenary on 7/1…
cmorenc
That could describe either of the infamous Donalds, Rumsfeld or Trump.
Amir Khalid
@Soprano2:
Actually, it didn’t. The bullshit case he had Powell present to the UN Security Council exposed the absurdity and flimsiness of his pretext. Another, more rational POTUS would have been chastened and gone no further. But W was dead set on invading, as you say; so invade he did, to international condemnation.
raven
@Amir Khalid: W gave that shit to Powell.
Geminid
@Soprano2: If the Iraq war had been the quick success Rumsfeld thought it would be, Iran would have been next. Even he was not crazy enough to mount a whole scale invasion of the country. But it would have been easy enough to get a naval war going in the Persian Gulf. Next would have been a prolonged air campaign, and possibly seizing a smaller piece of Iran at the Straits of Hormuz.
Within months of the invasion, Iran was encouraging and supporting it’s proxies in Iraq to fight U.S. forces, and along with the Sunni resistance they helped bog down the U.S. occupation. This caused a lot of death and suffering for American soldiers, marines, and their families. But the Iranians were not being gratuitously bloodthirsty, but acting in their strategic self-interest. A case of, “we have to fight them over their so we don’t have to fight them here.”
Frankensteinbeck
@Soprano2:
Cheney was trying to figure out a rationale to invade Iraq since 1980. He co-authored a paper around then about how doing it would cause the whole Middle East to turn into democracies that worship America’s greatness. That whole administration was united in their lust to invade Iraq.
Chief Oshkosh
Someone here commented to Cole’s post that queried “how did we get here” that the wholesale abandonment of reasoning based on observable facts that occurred in the build-up to and execution of the initial stages of the Iraq war was what put us firmly on the road to roughly half the population becoming cult members. I agree. The raw materials were always there (heck, Turd Blossom had taken advantage of it in simply getting Dim Son elected), but the Iraq war lies really set us on the path.
Geminid
@Frankensteinbeck: Cheney and Rumsfeld also wanted to invade Iraq just to show the world we could. They had a vision of a uni-polar world dominated by America’s advanced military. But in the end, they demonstrated the limitations of American power in the face of determined asymetrical resistance.
I read that the failure of Ford’s presidency rankled Cheney, and he was determined to restore a muscular, unconstrained Presidency. The Iraq war crippled Bush’s presidency, though. Karl Rove had a credible plan to create a permanent Republican majority. Cheney’s adventurism blew that plan out of the water.
Chief Oshkosh
@Craig: Yep. Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution wrote great pieces about PNAC back then. I wish more people had read his stuff and acted on it (though we did have the largest demonstrations worldwide — totally shutout by the press).
terben
It would be fitting if Rumsfeld and Kissinger could be buried together.
evodevo
@Chief Oshkosh: also this – this article is how I got the first inklings about the PNAC https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0305/S00170/pnac-primer-how-we-got-into-this-imperial-pickle.htm
Dennis
Very few liberals did more to give cover to Rumsfeld than George Packer, so fuck that guy and his Redemption Tour.