Rumsfeld blames us all for Iraq War

Rumsfeld blames us all for Iraq War

by revolutiontoday

Donald Rumsfeld Opens Up About Mistakes in Iraq Former Secretary of Defense Says "We All Were Responsible" for What Went Wrong With War

As long ago as 1971, Richard Nixon was heard on the Oval Office tapes grousing about "the Rumsfeld problem."

Donald Rumsfeld was a Presidential aide and maybe too big for his britches.

"Rumsfeld is a different cup of tea," President Nixon said.

Nearly three decades later, "the Rumsfeld problem" came to the Pentagon with orders from President Bush to shake the place up.

"Change is hard for people," Rumsfeld said.

"Change is hard. But did you make it harder than it had to be by alienating people?" asked Martin.

"If you don't want to change and someone above you wants to, it's not fun, replied the ex-Secretary of Defense.

The former college wrestler grappled with a military establishment he viewed as unimaginative and cumbersome. What started as a bureaucratic battle became a matter of life and death after 9/11.

He wanted small commando teams on the ground in Afghanistan to call in air strikes, but when the bombing started they still hadn't made it in.

And his famous impatience boiled over. In his book he writes, "We are sitting here like little birds in a nest waiting for someone to drop food in our mouths."

Of the comment Rumsfeld quipped, "Sometimes I'm colorful."

And he wrote this memo to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: "I am seeing nothing that is thoughtful, creative or actionable. How can that be?"

"That was a good memo," Rumsfeld commented. "And what I wanted to do is to put some sense of urgency into this big Department of Defense, the bureaucracy."

"Why did you call it the 'Goose Egg Memo'?" asked Martin.

"Because I think in the memo I said, 'What are we coming up with? A Goose Egg. We haven't got any new creative ideas that we -- how this department can contribute to the Global War on Terror.'"

In public he relished the role Special Forces played in the swift ouster of the Taliban. In private, he was warning President Bush: "Afghanistan risks becoming a swamp for the United States."

"This is what keeps guys like me in business," suggested Martin. "You're urging patience ... in public and in private you're writing things like the Goose Egg Memo. Do you see the disconnect between the public and private statements?" asked Martin.

"No," said Rumsfeld. "There's no disconnect at all."

Read more....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/ ... rPromoArea