Rumsfeld, ex-defense chief, dies
He spearheaded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Donald Rumsfeld was in his second stint as U.S. defense secretary on Sept. 11, 2001, and he oversaw the Pentagon’s war on terror, including attacks on the Taliban in Afghanistan followed by the Iraq War. He died Wednesday at age 88 in New Mexico.
Donald Rumsfeld – Republican power broker, controversial defense secretary and architect of the Iraq War – died Tuesday, days before his 89th birthday, his family said Wednesday.
“It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Donald Rumsfeld, an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. At 88, he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico,” the family said in a statement released Wednesday. “History may remember him for his extraordinary accomplishments over six decades of public service, but for those who knew him best and whose lives were forever changed as a result, we will remember his unwavering love for his wife Joyce, his family and friends and the integrity he brought to a life dedicated to country.”
President George W. Bush selected Rumsfeld for his second stint as Pentagon chief in 2001. Rumsfeld vowed to make the military leaner and more agile.
The Sept. 11 terror attacks changed everything.
Rumsfeld oversaw the Pentagon’s response and its initial attack on al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan. With stunning speed, U.S. commandos and airstrikes toppled the Taliban from power.
By early 2002, Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney turned the Pentagon’s attention to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, nearly captured in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, slipped away into Pakistan, where he was killed in 2011.
In 2003, U.S. forces invaded Iraq to prevent Saddam from launching attacks with weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found, and the mismanaged American occupation led to a guerrilla war and sectarian violence.
Bush fired Rumsfeld in 2006 as the United States was mired in grinding insurgencies that killed and maimed thousands of U.S. troops and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 2,000 troops remain in Iraq supporting a fragile government fighting Islamic insurgents, and the last U.S. combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan.
Other controversies during Rumsfeld’s tenure include the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. The detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of combatants scooped up on battlefields in the Middle East continues to vex the United States. Most of the detainees have been released to host countries, but others await military trials.
From Princeton to Pentagon
Rumsfeld graduated from Princeton University, where he was a collegiate wrestler and commissioned as a U.S. Navy aviator and flight instructor. He served on active duty from 1954-57.
He became a staffer on Capitol Hill and worked as an investment banker. In 1960, he won his first term as a Republican congressman from Illinois. He resigned in 1969 and took a post in the Nixon administration, according to his congressional biography.
In 1975, Rumsfeld was selected to serve as the 13th defense secretary – the youngest person to hold that position in the country’s history, according to the Department of Defense’s historical website. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford.
After working in the private sector for 23 years, Rumsfeld returned to his former position, as the 21st secretary of defense in Bush’s administration in 2001.
War in Iraq
In the spring of 2003, U.S. forces quickly seized Baghdad. Iraqi troops faded away, but there were soon signs of civil unrest. Looting was rampant, and Rumsfeld dismissed news reports, predicting “wonderful things” for Iraqis.
“And does that mean you couldn’t go in there and take a television camera or get a still photographer and take a picture of something that was imperfect, untidy?” Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. “I could do that in any city in America. Think what’s happened in our cities when we’ve had riots and problems and looting. Stuff happens!”
He upbraided reporters for inferring that Iraq teetered toward chaos.
“But in terms of what’s going on in that country, it is a fundamental misunderstanding to see those images over and over and over again of some boy walking out with a vase and say, ‘Oh, my goodness, you didn’t have a plan.’ That’s nonsense . ... Freedom’s untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They’re also free to live their lives and do wonderful things. And that’s what’s going to happen here.”
The provisional government in Iraq, led by a U.S. diplomat, disbanded the Iraqi army.
Rumsfeld’s plan to withdraw most U.S. troops was abandoned.
“Freedom’s untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They’re also free to live their lives and do wonderful things.” Donald Rumsfeld On the Iraq War