Goodbye and Good Riddance to Rumsfeld

R. J. Eskow at HuffPo explains why he won't be missed.

His most famous quote was not only flippant but dishonest, since it was used to conceal his own managerial incompetence, lack of proper planning, and indifference to the human cost of his actions. Let's not forget the question that prompted it, either, from a soldier serving in Iraq:

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson: Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles? And why don't we have those resources readily available to us?

Rumsfeld: It isn't a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part of the army of desire. It's a matter of production and capability of doing it. As you know, ah, you go to war with the army you have--not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.--You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up...

Rumsfeld's press conferences were widely noted for his bullying, confusing, and often incoherent comments. What was less obvious to most press observers was that his elliptically-phrased aggression was an intentional strategy. He kept reporters confused, intidimated, and off-balance while showering the public with his muddled thinking, cynical manipulations, and flat-out lies.

Cheney called Rumsfeld the best defense secretary in history. Bush said pretty much the same thing. The rampant J. Miller, on the other hand, thinks Rumsfeld is the greatest disaster since Robert McNamara and perhaps the worst Defense/War Secretary our Republic has seen. A lying, arrogant con man and a bully who thought he knew better than those who had served a lifetime in the military, he did incalculable harm to our country and the world. He approved of and ordered the use of torture as well, dishonoring his office in the process.

Good Riddance, Donny, you thug, you incompetent clown, you fuckup. To hell with you.