Sunday, February 6, 2011

Rumsfeld Redux

Donald Rumsfeld, that grandfatherly aficianado of torture, is the latest in the long line of Bush War Criminals to come out with a Book. It's called "Known and Unknown," an allusion to one of the most convoluted explanations for the non-existence of WMDs ever to come from the fevered brain of a neo-con. (see quote below). He really didn't have to waste 800-plus pages of precious tree material to say what he has already tortuously said on so many cringe-worthy occasions. He should have called it "Drone of a Bush Clone." Here, in a nutshell, is what the Donald says in his moany groany tome:


"Death has a tendency to induce a depressing view of war".


"Freedom is untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and do bad things." (he was referring to the plunder of priceless artifacts from Iraq's museums, but in retrospect, he unintentionally was referring to the whole war itself, with him as one of the freedom-loving bad guys).


"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want or might wish to have at a later time."


"Osama Bid Laden is either alive and well or alive and not too well or not alive".


"I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and well, I assume that's what I said."


"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said."


"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are very interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns, there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."


And there's this, which I swear he plagiarized from Sarah Palin: "I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty."


I wrote a response to Maureen Dowd's column on Rummy today, but it was rejected - I assume because of the nasty tone I assumed, and we all know we must be civil in today's climate of hate, particularly to those most deserving of our wrath. I had originally called for burning Rummy's books, but on second thought, even Satan has the right to free speech, so I have amended it somewhat:


Donald Rumsfeld is a connoisseur of torture - past, present and future. He bought and lives in a house in Maryland that was the site of the torture of Frederick Douglass by notorious slave-breaker Edward Covey. It's called Misery Hill - but by all accounts Rummy is living there happily in comfortable retirement, complete with taxpayer-funded benefits and health care. He is so well-to-do, in fact, that he's donating the proceeds of his book to a scholarship fund for American students. No foreigners, no survivors of Iraquis killed in the invasion have been invited to apply. No apologist and no soul-searcher is Ronald Dumsfeld.


Despite cheerfully admitting giving the big A-OK to torture at both Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, Rumsfeld is free to slither from one corporate media-hosted softball interview to the next to plug his memoirs. I hope he crosses the pond in search of some book-signings in, say, Switzerland. I heard there are lots of fans over there just dying to meet him...Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights. You know, in parts of the civilized world that still take the Geneva Conventions on torture seriously - and where warrants for the arrests of Bush and Co. are rumored to be the works.
There may be a few countries left that haven't been pressured by the Obama Administration to drop such nonsense in the interests of looking forward and the status quo and foreign aid and stuff. Georgie W. just had to cancel a speech in Geneva because not only were protesters on the agenda, but there were some stray flying shoes and legal documents in the mix too.


I haven't seen Rumsfeld's book on the New York Times bestseller list yet, despite the hype, and with any luck, all copies will soon be gathering dust in the bargain bins of Wal-Mart. And when it comes time to dispose of them, vendors and the publisher must take care. The unsold volumes must be treated as hazardous waste - otherwise they will just contaminate the rest of the garbage in the landfills.


Stay tuned - we still have Cheney's trip down nightmare lane to look forward to. Oh, and I almost forgot - Happy Belated Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday, although I'm sure the extravaganza will go on at least as long as his funeral.

10 comments:

  1. From Rummy:
    "Death has a tendency to induce a depressing view of war"."

    Just so! AND.....Donald Rumsfeld has a tendency to induce a depressing view of humanity!"

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  2. My head is getting spun around by all the double talk and re-writing of history. It gripes me that Obama refuses to look back at the past to hold war criminals like Bush and Cheney and Rummy responsible, but doesn't mind looking back at Reagan and elevating him with praise and emulation of his Trickle Down Economics scheme.

    Liberal has become a dirty word. Poor has become a dirty word. Pretty soon Democrat will be a dirty word. But the economy is booming! The state of the Union is strong! Wake me up when this nightmare is over. I want the Truth back.

    Thanks Karen for speaking the Truth. I find it especially humorous and enjoyable in an 'uncivil' form!

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  3. Even if Rumsfeld was and still is the Devil Incarnate he is still last decades news. There are enough things going on today that are much worse than could use the attention. Worrying about a person writing a book because you think he is a criminal is counter productive. It's like worrying about William Ayers being involved in education because you believe he is a criminal. It may be true but nothing is going to change,

    A number of people Maureen Dowd chief among them are trapped in the past by their anger while the world and history pass them by. In the process they forfeit their opportunity to influence it's course.

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  4. Dear Anonymous,

    To paraphrase Santayana, those who fail to read history are doomed to repeat it. But maybe you can recommend a good shrink to treat my clinginess to the past.

    Karen(so last decade)Garcia

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  5. If you are last decade, Karen, I am last millenium! I still have not gotten over the Vietnam War--and do not expect to. How any of us can stand by with our troops slaughtering and getting slaughtered in Afghanistan and, yes, still in Iraq-is beyond me! Rumsfeld WAS the devil incarnate. And he is still alive and still influencing the Neo Cons, who are very much with us today. We desperately need to learn the lessons of ignorance, arrogance and myopia he has to teach!

    I wish you would take off your rose colored glasses, Anonymous, or at least let us know who you are. How do you expect to influence the course of history if you do not acknowledge what happened ten years ago and is still happening?

    I do hope you have not bought his book! That is the best way to make a personal protest.

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  6. George said, "those that can not remember the past are doomed to repeat it". I say those that remember the past and live in it are repeating it. You both want Rumsfeld in jail and I want Ayers and his wife in jail it looks like we are both going to be disappointed. Based on your reading of history do you think that Obama will make as big a mess of Egypt as Carter maide of Iran?

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  7. The Anonymous comment above about the past, and criticizing Maureen Dowd in particular, reminds me of a NYT commenter who lives 'in the mountains' who wrote a comment bitterly chastising Dowd for not paying more attention to the wisdom of the commenters, such as himself. It sure sounded like the commenter needed some personal attention or TLC from MoDo but wasn't getting it.

    The comment here identifies Dowd as being chief among those who are trapped in the past by their anger. Who's angry?

    The past is important to remember. History repeats itself, over and over again, but if you don't know history, you wouldn't even know that.

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  8. I think that Ms. Dowd has been "off her game" since the end of the Bush Presidency. As for "listening" to the commenters I wonder if she or the other writers read the posted comments? As for the "Anger" there are a lot of commenters that sound angry based only on what they post. Some still sound angry about Viet Nam, others sound angry about aspects of the Bush (W) presidency and feel that the "Bush Administration" should be tried and imprisoned. That is not going to happen and as a fact the Obama Administration is continuing and even expanding those same policies.

    I think that a lot of people define their lives and themselves based on things they live through but never move on from.They define subsequent events through the "prisim" of their defining event or they just keep going back to the event when reminded of it.

    There is nothing wrong with remembering the past unless you only remember the part that fits your world view. It seems that there are other more important issues than a book signing tour of a former government official when the current government is following most of the same policies especially if you feel those policies are immoral and wrong.

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  9. Karen,
    Thanks for posting here what the Times wouldn't run.
    If it's any comfort to you, they declined my own comment on Rumsfeld. I wrote something to the effect of: "Idiots like me will buy the book and read every page, with the expectation of SOME kind of explanation for all that went wrong. But there is no explanation. The book, like the war, is a waste of time and money."
    eva c.

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  10. "I assume because of the nasty tone I assumed, and we all know we must be civil in today's climate of hate, particularly to those most deserving of our wrath."

    So apt, and the strange irony is that more and more of us in the U.S. feel a clamp of censorship, a concept we only knew because we were taught in our schools that Russia gagged its people during the interminable cold war.

    Now most of the U.S. is cloistered from Al Jazeera English, and is missing the visceral experience of being in Tahrir Sq for 3 weeks straight...the cheers today are so jubilant, so boisterously joyful, because they are free at last.

    The Egyptians have surpassed the remnants of dour silence, and not a trace of wrath is left. No need to edit or curtail a freedom so vivid it even leaks through the veins of old war-mongers on the pages of our newspapers...

    All suppressed rage fulminates eventually, until it is distilled into boundless freedom...

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