Rummy Says Goodbye

As part of his farewell tour (Robert Gates will be sworn in next Monday, the 18th), Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq this weekend to speak with the troops whose lives he is throwing away because he and his other project members wanted to create a new American century of military dominance all over the world. Did he again tell them that you go to war with the army you have, rather than the one you want? Because there is nothing people risking their lives like to hear more from a man in charge of their fate than condescension. It is sad that this fool is going off to retire with his millions, rather than being hold accountable for the carnage he unleashed.

Another telling Rummy moment comes from his final 'town hall' meeting in office. Asked what the worst day on the job was, Rumsfeld responded that it was when he learned of the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Odd that his immediate first pick for worst day wasn't, ohh I don't know, September 11 2001, a day when terrorists attacked America, including the building that Rumsfeld himself works in and runs. Then again, if I was potentially legally culpable for war crimes, my worst day might be the day we got caught too.

In trademark Rumsfeldian fashion... let me say goodbye: Is Donald Rumsfeld the worst Secretary of Defense in the history of the United States? Perhaps. Will history remember him kindly? No, sir.

Finally, a look back at the legacy of Donald H. Rumsfeld-



-"We urge you to... enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power."
(Letter to President Clinton, signed by Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and others, Jan. 26, 1998)

-"Judge whether good enough [to] hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at the same time. Not only UBL [Osama bin Laden]….Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not."
(Notes from DoD meeting with Rumsfeld, afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001)

-"It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."
(On February 7, 2003)

-"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat."
(Discussing WMDs in an ABC interview, March 30, 2003)

-"I didn't advocate invasion... I wasn't asked."
(In an ABC interview, on November 20, 2005)