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Archive of posts published in the tag: Donald Rumsfeld

The Cult of Personality

From Bret Stephens at The Wall Street Journal, The Donald and Demagogues: If by now you don’t find Donald Trump appalling, you’re appalling. And so forth and so on—a parade of semi-sophisticated theories that act as bathroom deodorizer to mask the stench

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A History of Flawed Intelligence

Though the intelligence failures surrounding Iraq are now well known, recent history is abundant with examples of flawed intelligence that have affected key national security decisions and contingency planning.  They include, for example: the poor quality of the intelligence gathered

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Ruthlessness and Patience

The Syrian dictatorship possessed in the extreme two qualities particularly dangerous in a military adversary- ruthlessness and patience.  Like all dictatorships, the regime had the advantage of not needing to cater to its domestic opinion.  It could do whatever it

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An Elegant Lunch

Powell had an engaging sense of humor and could poke fun at himself and some of the sterotypes of the State Department.  On one occasion, Cheney, Rice and I were at the State Department for one of our regular lunches, which

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Fighting Change

When I learned, for example, that the Pentagon had been spending $225 million every year to maintain our forces in Iceland, I sent a memo to Powell recommending that we make a change.  I pointed out that our aircraft originally

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Rumsfeld’s View

I have admired Rumsfeld. He seemed intelligently clear in his press briefings and was able to use humor appropriately.  Yet many in the military were scathingly critical of him and pushed for his resignation.  He was deemed to squelch criticism

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