When Ed Rendell was Mayor of Philadelphia and Governor of Pennsylvania, he was an indefatigable cheerleader for the city. The Kimmel Center, National Museum of American Jewish History, and the National Constitution Center owe their existence to his fundraising prowess and his superhero ability to extract money from the federal and state budgets. Rendell's political philosophy seemed to be borrowed from the "Field of Dreams" - "Build it and they will come."
Now that he is out of office, these institutions are floundering. When his final legacy is written, it may be littered with white elephants throughout the city. The Kimmel Center has cut back its programming schedule. Most of their reduced schedule is joint productions with concert promoters. Attendance at the Jewish Museum and the Constitution Center has fallen short of projections.
The National Constitution Center seems to be in the most danger of shutting its doors. The head of the center, David Eisner, recently resigned his $400,000 job. With no new job lined up, the announcement indicates to me that he is in a rush to leave a sinking Titanic.
Eisner's tenure at the Constitution Center was a failure. A diffident public speaker, he never clearly articulated a vision for the center. Without the exhibit of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia this year, center attendance would have fallen off the cliff.
Like the Princess Diana exhibit before it, the Springsteen exhibit had no real ties to the stated mission of the center, which is to teach visitors about the constitution. The overflowing crowds at the press luncheon for the Springsteen exhibit did not hear a lecture about copyright laws or freedom of speech that would have linked the exhibit to the constitution. Instead a photographer showed his early photographs of Bruce. The best indication that the Constitution Center has lost its way were the covering up of the picture of founding father George Washington by a photograph of Bruce and the enlarged photo of Bruce that overpowered the building's inscription of "We the People".
Similarly, the selection of Muhammad Ali for this year's Liberty Medal while the nation is at war is a slap in the face to all the soldiers that have died defending our constitution. Being the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors, I revere Ali's fight for religious freedom. I just think that he should be honored when the nation is not at war. When thousands of return soldiers suffering from post- traumatic stress disorder are committing suicide, it is not the right time to honor a draft evader.
While former Defense Secretary Bob Gates honorably served his country, his speech at the Liberty Medal was his regular canned speech. He was ubiquitous on the lecture circuit last year. I heard him give the exact same speech two other times. I had championed the selection of Google executive Wael Ghonim, who was one of the leaders of the Arab Spring in Egypt.
In this bad economy, non- profits can not be choosy about their donors. The Constitution Center may have trouble luring suitable recipients for the Liberty Medal because the lead donor, Ira Lubert, has been accused of fraudulent transferring funds by a bankruptcy trustee.
It is not just the public events that lacked relevance. Although the Constitution Center touts winning State Department funds for participating in the Table to Table program, the superficial agenda for the visiting Latvian students had very few lessons about our constitution. Reading the description of the program provided me with one of my few tea party moments. I was angry that my tax dollars were being wasted on this program.
I attended one of the events at the People for People Charter School in North Philadelphia. Center staffer Sayeh Hormozi could not explain how Latvian teenagers eating lunch at an inner city school was classified as a service project and how it was teaching them about the Constitution. It struck me as racist to think that eating lunch with black children was a service project. As someone who participated as a teenager in archaeological digs at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and picked oranges on a Kibbutz, I am familiar with meaningful service projects.
Although it is one of the main freedoms in the constitution, the center curiously never respected freedom of the press. They limited press access to most of the speakers at the center, including last year's Liberty Medal winner. When former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld appeared at the Center, presidential historian Michael Beschloss used the weak excuse that he did not want to ask the same questions as ABC's Diane Sawyer to avoid asking him hardball questions. They regular bar members of the press, including me, that are critical of the center.
Showing posts with label Donald Rumsfeld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Rumsfeld. Show all posts
Monday, September 3, 2012
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
W Unplugged
Former President Geroge W. Bush participated in a Q&A moderated by CNBC's Melissa Lee at the SALT conference in Las Vegas. The conference is organized by Skybridge Capital. Anthony Scarmucci, the managing director of Skybridge, shot to fame when he asked President Obama at a town hall meeting, "When are you going to stop whacking Wall Street."
It was clear from the start of the session, that this was a different Bush than the one that led the country. He was jocular, relaxed, and sprinkling his talk with four letter words.
He introduced himself by saying "I am a simple retired guy - a Medicare guy." The reference to being a Medicare Guy seemed to Bush's way of interjecting himself into the Medicare debate started by Congressman Ryan.
When asked what he has been doing since leaving office, Bush answered, "Much to alot of people's surprise, I wrote a book, "Decision Points." Many thought I could not even read. The book tells what it is like to be in the eye of the storm. I am hoping that it will be a data point when the objective historians show up. It is too soon for my presidency to be judged. Short term history can not be objective. I did not write this book to be judgemental or tell the critics they are wrong and I am right."
He joked about the speech that he was giving, "I am committing white collar crime. I am giving speeches for money."
Since this was a financial conference, he was asked about TARP. Bush said, "I am a free market guy. It was a very hard decision for me to authorize Tarp. My buddies in Midland,Texas probably think that I was drinking the cool aid in Washington."
"When you run an organization, you need to bring in people that you trust and delegate. Hank Paulson knew the markets. I was a history major in college. I did not know what a TED (treasury/euro dollar) spread. He and Bernanke were urging me to commit Tarp unless I wanted to create a Depression. Growth in the economy would not be enough."
His recipe for economic growth is: tax policy, certainty in regulation, free trade, and a rational immigration policy, "It does not make sense for us to educate a child from India and then tell him he has to go back.
The nuclear treaty that he signed with India was about more than nuclear safety. "India has 350 million people and all of them are middle class. We want to be friends with them."
He decries the "isms" -isolationism and protectionism. "Americans often wonder why we should carry about a fight in Afghanistan. Isolationism leads to stagnation. We should not fear India and China."
America will triumph because "our entrepreneurial spirit is strong."
He talked about the difficulties in arranging meetings with the Hu Jingtao. When he met with Putin, it was two on two -the leaders and translators. When he met with the Jingtao, it was 7 on 7. "While I usually had more on his mind than table seating arrangements, one time I arranged for the Chinese leader to sit between Condi and me. Then I got the chance to ask him what keeps him up at night. Another terrorist attack keeps me up at night. Jingtao's worry was 25 million new jobs for his people. His answer gave us alot of information. He was worried about the unemployed people in his country because it could lead to government instability."
Being a former oil man, he could not resist saying a few words about oil. 'It is interesting that the price of oil has gone from $20 a barrel to $ 150 a barrel and there is no inflation. I suspect it has to do with conservation. After the price hikes from 1973-1979, conservation gained."
He also credited the low inflation to "the Chinese goods coming into the country. Americans have more goods available at lower prices."
"Some parts of the country like to demagogue oil. We need to find as much oil as we can. We have the technology to search for it in the deep waters. I know about the green stuff. We still need to extract gas from the shale."
"Our energy policy is backwards. When I became President, they told me that we had to subsidize the heat for the elderly in New England. I shook my head and asked what about the old people suffering in the heat in Texas."
"In Marcellus Shale, the critics are opposing the exploration of gas because of the polluting the water. We have been fracking in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana for years, it has not polluted the water."
The hardest decision he made was "to use taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street." "Paulson, who I think the world of and Bernanke, who had worked for me in the White House before I appointed him Fed chief, told me that I had to do the bailout or the country would face a Depression. If I had not done something and there was a depression, I would have been criticized because I did not do something to prevent a depression."
"People said TARP is a four letter word. Duh, I know that," said an obviously irritated Bush. He reminded, "We created instant liquidity."
Congress originally passed authorization for an asset auction. 'It was easier to get the vote the second time after the market had fallen $1.3 trillion."
When asked if Tarp was a bait and switch on the original plan, he said that Paulson said the auction would not work. Things were freezing so quickly, In midst of crisis can't take Gallup polls or care if people like me."
"Overregulation will dampen the economy."
While he said he did not want to criticize his successor because "he did not like when former presidents criticized him, he proceed to say, "I am worried about the Boeing case in South Carolina that I read about in the Wall Street Journal on my ipad (I have gone modern). It is a sign of the pendulum swinging too far. Capital flows not regulatory bodies should make decisions."
When asked how sure was he when he was making the decisions about the financial crisis, Bush said, "not very sure. We were not very sure. Paulson and the really smart people that he attracted to the treasury felt that it was the right thing to do."
Bush explained that the financial crisis was not the only thing that he had on his mind. "Presidents do not deal with a single issue at a time. The job is complex. At the same time, I was dealing with Hurricane Ike, Georgia invading Russia, homeland threats, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The result is what counts. Bush said, "No depression occurred. That is what matters."
The one mistake that he made during the financial meltdown had to do with the Lehman bankruptcy. "The administration should have more clearly explained why the Lehman bankruptcy went down. Why it was different than Bear Stearns, which had a buyer. Barclays left in the middle of buying Lehman. But this was not a presidential responsibility but the Treasury or Federal Reserve."
He reiterated, "TARP prevented the dominoes falling."
It was hard for him to leave a part owner of General Motors Citicorp,. "But I didn't curl up in the psychological fetal position. Sometimes, I did think why me, but not for long. Nothing more pathetic than self pity. You learn in life, sometimes things happen, you just have to deal."
"September 11 changed my presidency and redefined out lives. I am afraid it is becoming like Pearl Harbor day."
"The Bush doctrine is you go on the offense and deal with threats before they happen."
"On 9/11, my most important responsibility was to protect the homeland."
He talked about the capture of Khalid, the mastermind of 9/11 and "the killer of Danny Pearl." "By the way, Danny Pearl made a great statement of courage, 'My grandfather is a Jew, my father is a Jew, and I am a Jew."
According to Bush, "Khalid said, I will talk to you when I get my lawyer in New York. Al Queadawas already trained to resist the standard interrogation techniques. When I was presented with 13 alternatives, the first thing I asked was 'is it legal?" I was sworn in to uphold the laws of the land. I immediately took 2 techniques off the table, but left waterboarding. The Khalid information saved alot of lives. If we had not found the information, as president, I would have been responsible for the loss of lives." Bush was the most emotional during this section of the speech.
When he was told that Obama wanted to talk to him (about Osama's death), "I was eating souffle at Rice Restaurant with Laura and two buddies. I excused myself and went home to take the call. Obama simply said "Osama Bin Laden is dead. I was not overjoyed. I did not act out of hatred but to extract judgement."
After Obama described the mission in detail, Bush told him "Good call."
"The intelligence services deserve alot of credit. They built a mosaic of information, piece by piece."
"I met Seal Team 6 in Afghanistan. They are awesome, skilled, talented, and brave. I said, "I hope you have everything you need. One member said to me, "We need your permission to go into Pakistan and kick ass. One of the last things that I did as President was visit them in Norfolk Beach, Virginia,"
"The guy is dead. That is good. Osama's death is a great victory in the war on terror.He was held up as a leader. Long term solution is to promote a better ideology, which is freedom. Freedom is universal." People who do not look like us want freedom just as much. The relatives of Condileeza Rice over 100 years wanted freedom. It is only when you do not have hope in a society that you join a suicide bomber team."
"One of the most amazing movements of my presidency was when Koizimu, the Japanese Prime Minister, said after 9/11. We stand shoulder to should with the United States. My dad quit college to fight our enemy the Japanese. Now they are our ally. It is because Japan instituted Japan style democracy in 1945. 60 years later the enemy becomes a friend."
"Something will happen in the Middle East, but not in my lifetime. Democracy takes a long time. I only have 20 years left."
"I did not worry about bloodshed in the Far East -Vietnam, Korea. The democracy that took hold in South Korea stabilized the region but it took ? years. Truman was excoriated for his decision, but it was a courageous decision that benefitted all mankind. Democracy takes a long time."
"In the Middle East, young people gave a damn about what happened in their country. Laura and I want to help change the Middle East by helping women. It will be a long time before there are open free elections. The established parties will steamroll over the young activists. There are good things happening in Tunisia and Iraq. We need someone safer than the dictators that we put in place."
While not getting the intelligence briefings any more, he believes that "we are safer."
"I was mocked for my appearance, religion and the way I spoke. I was called Nazi, war criminal etc. I do not give a damn about polls except the one that counts election day. If you chase polls, then you are willing to forgo principals."
"It was much harder to hear the criticism as a son about the guy that I love. I was mean to reporters that wrote not nice things about my dad."
Laura helped him cope during the crisis. "Laura was awesome, unbelievable, and a source of comfort. When I came up from the Oval Office, she did not ask why I said dead or alive."
Reid's criticism rankled him."The Majority Leader of the Senate, the senior Senator from Nevada called me a liar. It will discourage people from going into public office. But I did not respond to my critics because it is not what presidents do. I did my best. You worry about the effect on the people you love - my daughters and wife. How do I feel? I am pissed off. But I did not let it get me down. I did not have time. I was too busy solving problems. By the end of the day, I wanted to go to bed."
"My favorite president, after my dad, was Abraham Lincoln. He was belittled while in office. The difference is that modern presidents have to face a 24 hour news cycle."
"In my book, I say that the media "contributes to the death spiral of decency." "Loudest screamers gets the attention. Nameless bloggers are not held accountable."
"I still is the best system in the world. I love our democracy."
"It is not a sacrifice to serve a cause that you care about."
"Eight years is plenty. Time to move on. It was a honor to serve."
Bush now gets to do neat things. " I was able to ride my mountain bike with serviceman that lost limbs in combat. Chris Seif was on the back of my bike."
"I do miss Air Force One. the deserts from the White House pastry chef, and being Commander in Chief. I miss saluting men and women who volunteer to serve our country."
"I do like being out the spotlight. I am not addicted to it. Fame does not mean much."
"I plan to influence policy not politics."
He made fun of people saying that he is shaping his legacy. "Iam not shaping my legacy. My legacy is shaped. The critics can pound sand. I will not be around."
"The office of the President is more important than one individual. I brought honor and dignity to the office."
"Now I want to live life and contribute to the improvement of mankind. I am not going to be a bloviator."
He will pursue a freedom agenda. He has established his museum and institute at Southern Methodist. "The archives include 25000 boxes and 190 million emails. I am the first email president. Clinton had some emails although not any from me."
"Part of the museum will include the archives of dissidents to inspire future dissidents. The work of dissidents will be memorialized forever. "The Dalia Lama came to visit last week and gave me the Tibetan constitution with his handwritten notes."
--
It was clear from the start of the session, that this was a different Bush than the one that led the country. He was jocular, relaxed, and sprinkling his talk with four letter words.
He introduced himself by saying "I am a simple retired guy - a Medicare guy." The reference to being a Medicare Guy seemed to Bush's way of interjecting himself into the Medicare debate started by Congressman Ryan.
When asked what he has been doing since leaving office, Bush answered, "Much to alot of people's surprise, I wrote a book, "Decision Points." Many thought I could not even read. The book tells what it is like to be in the eye of the storm. I am hoping that it will be a data point when the objective historians show up. It is too soon for my presidency to be judged. Short term history can not be objective. I did not write this book to be judgemental or tell the critics they are wrong and I am right."
He joked about the speech that he was giving, "I am committing white collar crime. I am giving speeches for money."
Since this was a financial conference, he was asked about TARP. Bush said, "I am a free market guy. It was a very hard decision for me to authorize Tarp. My buddies in Midland,Texas probably think that I was drinking the cool aid in Washington."
"When you run an organization, you need to bring in people that you trust and delegate. Hank Paulson knew the markets. I was a history major in college. I did not know what a TED (treasury/euro dollar) spread. He and Bernanke were urging me to commit Tarp unless I wanted to create a Depression. Growth in the economy would not be enough."
His recipe for economic growth is: tax policy, certainty in regulation, free trade, and a rational immigration policy, "It does not make sense for us to educate a child from India and then tell him he has to go back.
The nuclear treaty that he signed with India was about more than nuclear safety. "India has 350 million people and all of them are middle class. We want to be friends with them."
He decries the "isms" -isolationism and protectionism. "Americans often wonder why we should carry about a fight in Afghanistan. Isolationism leads to stagnation. We should not fear India and China."
America will triumph because "our entrepreneurial spirit is strong."
He talked about the difficulties in arranging meetings with the Hu Jingtao. When he met with Putin, it was two on two -the leaders and translators. When he met with the Jingtao, it was 7 on 7. "While I usually had more on his mind than table seating arrangements, one time I arranged for the Chinese leader to sit between Condi and me. Then I got the chance to ask him what keeps him up at night. Another terrorist attack keeps me up at night. Jingtao's worry was 25 million new jobs for his people. His answer gave us alot of information. He was worried about the unemployed people in his country because it could lead to government instability."
Being a former oil man, he could not resist saying a few words about oil. 'It is interesting that the price of oil has gone from $20 a barrel to $ 150 a barrel and there is no inflation. I suspect it has to do with conservation. After the price hikes from 1973-1979, conservation gained."
He also credited the low inflation to "the Chinese goods coming into the country. Americans have more goods available at lower prices."
"Some parts of the country like to demagogue oil. We need to find as much oil as we can. We have the technology to search for it in the deep waters. I know about the green stuff. We still need to extract gas from the shale."
"Our energy policy is backwards. When I became President, they told me that we had to subsidize the heat for the elderly in New England. I shook my head and asked what about the old people suffering in the heat in Texas."
"In Marcellus Shale, the critics are opposing the exploration of gas because of the polluting the water. We have been fracking in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana for years, it has not polluted the water."
The hardest decision he made was "to use taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street." "Paulson, who I think the world of and Bernanke, who had worked for me in the White House before I appointed him Fed chief, told me that I had to do the bailout or the country would face a Depression. If I had not done something and there was a depression, I would have been criticized because I did not do something to prevent a depression."
"People said TARP is a four letter word. Duh, I know that," said an obviously irritated Bush. He reminded, "We created instant liquidity."
Congress originally passed authorization for an asset auction. 'It was easier to get the vote the second time after the market had fallen $1.3 trillion."
When asked if Tarp was a bait and switch on the original plan, he said that Paulson said the auction would not work. Things were freezing so quickly, In midst of crisis can't take Gallup polls or care if people like me."
"Overregulation will dampen the economy."
While he said he did not want to criticize his successor because "he did not like when former presidents criticized him, he proceed to say, "I am worried about the Boeing case in South Carolina that I read about in the Wall Street Journal on my ipad (I have gone modern). It is a sign of the pendulum swinging too far. Capital flows not regulatory bodies should make decisions."
When asked how sure was he when he was making the decisions about the financial crisis, Bush said, "not very sure. We were not very sure. Paulson and the really smart people that he attracted to the treasury felt that it was the right thing to do."
Bush explained that the financial crisis was not the only thing that he had on his mind. "Presidents do not deal with a single issue at a time. The job is complex. At the same time, I was dealing with Hurricane Ike, Georgia invading Russia, homeland threats, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The result is what counts. Bush said, "No depression occurred. That is what matters."
The one mistake that he made during the financial meltdown had to do with the Lehman bankruptcy. "The administration should have more clearly explained why the Lehman bankruptcy went down. Why it was different than Bear Stearns, which had a buyer. Barclays left in the middle of buying Lehman. But this was not a presidential responsibility but the Treasury or Federal Reserve."
He reiterated, "TARP prevented the dominoes falling."
It was hard for him to leave a part owner of General Motors Citicorp,. "But I didn't curl up in the psychological fetal position. Sometimes, I did think why me, but not for long. Nothing more pathetic than self pity. You learn in life, sometimes things happen, you just have to deal."
"September 11 changed my presidency and redefined out lives. I am afraid it is becoming like Pearl Harbor day."
"The Bush doctrine is you go on the offense and deal with threats before they happen."
"On 9/11, my most important responsibility was to protect the homeland."
He talked about the capture of Khalid, the mastermind of 9/11 and "the killer of Danny Pearl." "By the way, Danny Pearl made a great statement of courage, 'My grandfather is a Jew, my father is a Jew, and I am a Jew."
According to Bush, "Khalid said, I will talk to you when I get my lawyer in New York. Al Queadawas already trained to resist the standard interrogation techniques. When I was presented with 13 alternatives, the first thing I asked was 'is it legal?" I was sworn in to uphold the laws of the land. I immediately took 2 techniques off the table, but left waterboarding. The Khalid information saved alot of lives. If we had not found the information, as president, I would have been responsible for the loss of lives." Bush was the most emotional during this section of the speech.
When he was told that Obama wanted to talk to him (about Osama's death), "I was eating souffle at Rice Restaurant with Laura and two buddies. I excused myself and went home to take the call. Obama simply said "Osama Bin Laden is dead. I was not overjoyed. I did not act out of hatred but to extract judgement."
After Obama described the mission in detail, Bush told him "Good call."
"The intelligence services deserve alot of credit. They built a mosaic of information, piece by piece."
"I met Seal Team 6 in Afghanistan. They are awesome, skilled, talented, and brave. I said, "I hope you have everything you need. One member said to me, "We need your permission to go into Pakistan and kick ass. One of the last things that I did as President was visit them in Norfolk Beach, Virginia,"
"The guy is dead. That is good. Osama's death is a great victory in the war on terror.He was held up as a leader. Long term solution is to promote a better ideology, which is freedom. Freedom is universal." People who do not look like us want freedom just as much. The relatives of Condileeza Rice over 100 years wanted freedom. It is only when you do not have hope in a society that you join a suicide bomber team."
"One of the most amazing movements of my presidency was when Koizimu, the Japanese Prime Minister, said after 9/11. We stand shoulder to should with the United States. My dad quit college to fight our enemy the Japanese. Now they are our ally. It is because Japan instituted Japan style democracy in 1945. 60 years later the enemy becomes a friend."
"Something will happen in the Middle East, but not in my lifetime. Democracy takes a long time. I only have 20 years left."
"I did not worry about bloodshed in the Far East -Vietnam, Korea. The democracy that took hold in South Korea stabilized the region but it took ? years. Truman was excoriated for his decision, but it was a courageous decision that benefitted all mankind. Democracy takes a long time."
"In the Middle East, young people gave a damn about what happened in their country. Laura and I want to help change the Middle East by helping women. It will be a long time before there are open free elections. The established parties will steamroll over the young activists. There are good things happening in Tunisia and Iraq. We need someone safer than the dictators that we put in place."
While not getting the intelligence briefings any more, he believes that "we are safer."
"I was mocked for my appearance, religion and the way I spoke. I was called Nazi, war criminal etc. I do not give a damn about polls except the one that counts election day. If you chase polls, then you are willing to forgo principals."
"It was much harder to hear the criticism as a son about the guy that I love. I was mean to reporters that wrote not nice things about my dad."
Laura helped him cope during the crisis. "Laura was awesome, unbelievable, and a source of comfort. When I came up from the Oval Office, she did not ask why I said dead or alive."
Reid's criticism rankled him."The Majority Leader of the Senate, the senior Senator from Nevada called me a liar. It will discourage people from going into public office. But I did not respond to my critics because it is not what presidents do. I did my best. You worry about the effect on the people you love - my daughters and wife. How do I feel? I am pissed off. But I did not let it get me down. I did not have time. I was too busy solving problems. By the end of the day, I wanted to go to bed."
"My favorite president, after my dad, was Abraham Lincoln. He was belittled while in office. The difference is that modern presidents have to face a 24 hour news cycle."
"In my book, I say that the media "contributes to the death spiral of decency." "Loudest screamers gets the attention. Nameless bloggers are not held accountable."
"I still is the best system in the world. I love our democracy."
"It is not a sacrifice to serve a cause that you care about."
"Eight years is plenty. Time to move on. It was a honor to serve."
Bush now gets to do neat things. " I was able to ride my mountain bike with serviceman that lost limbs in combat. Chris Seif was on the back of my bike."
"I do miss Air Force One. the deserts from the White House pastry chef, and being Commander in Chief. I miss saluting men and women who volunteer to serve our country."
"I do like being out the spotlight. I am not addicted to it. Fame does not mean much."
"I plan to influence policy not politics."
He made fun of people saying that he is shaping his legacy. "Iam not shaping my legacy. My legacy is shaped. The critics can pound sand. I will not be around."
"The office of the President is more important than one individual. I brought honor and dignity to the office."
"Now I want to live life and contribute to the improvement of mankind. I am not going to be a bloviator."
He will pursue a freedom agenda. He has established his museum and institute at Southern Methodist. "The archives include 25000 boxes and 190 million emails. I am the first email president. Clinton had some emails although not any from me."
"Part of the museum will include the archives of dissidents to inspire future dissidents. The work of dissidents will be memorialized forever. "The Dalia Lama came to visit last week and gave me the Tibetan constitution with his handwritten notes."
--
Friday, February 11, 2011
Rumsfeld Still Defends Going to War
Donald Rumsfeld, who served as Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006, kicked off the book tour for his memoir, “Known and Unknown,” at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on February 9. Rumsfeld had Michael Beschloss, the author of 8 books on US Presidents, to moderate the discussion.
The title “Known and Unknown” is a wink and nod to Rumsfeld’s much ridiculed answer about Iraqi plans to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. At a press conference in 2002, Rumsfeld said, ““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.”
In a private conversation with Secretary Rumsfeld while he is signing my book, I asked him about his current thoughts about Israel in light of the recent monumental changes in the Middle East. He said, “If I was Israel, I would be worried with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Rumsfeld spent much of the public part of the program defending Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Curiously, he admitted that Bush never directly asked Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Condileezza Rice, or himself if he should invade Iraq. “He knew that if we thought he was wrong we would have voiced our objections,” said the former Secretary of Defense.
“The Iraqi army had fired more than 2000 missiles at American and British planes that were patrolling the no fly zone,” said Rumsfeld. “What is they had killed someone?”
Rumsfeld insisted, “Saddam Hussein and his family were offered safe passage out of the country, but Saddam refused. There was no regime change after Bush senior invaded Iraq so I think he did not think that this Bush would force him to go.”
In his list of good results from the Iraq invasion, Rumsfeld revealed for the first time, “Omar Kadafi of Libya told the United States that he abandoned his nuclear program after the United States invaded Iraq.”
He surmised that Kadafi did not want to suffer the same fate as Saddam Hussein. “He even offered us the opportunity to inspect his nuclear arsenal,” stated Rumsfeld.
Bizarrely, Rumsfeld mentioned that the John Hopkins Smallpox Study “Dark Winter” influenced his decision to go to war. This study found “If Smallpox virus was released into three locations that 800,000 would die and many more would be infected.”
An audience member requested that Rumfseld, who also served as Secretary of Defense under President Ford, to explain the difference between the Iraq and Vietnam Wars. Rumsfeld replied, “We never feared that the Vietnamese would attack America.” Rumsfeld ignored my question -What is the role of Intelligence Services now that they have been proven horribly wrong about 9/11, Iraqi WMDs, and the uprising in the Middle East?
When he went to meet Bush, Rumsfeld never expected that Bush would ask him to become Secretary of Defense. He joked, “I was old man. Joyce (his wife) was telling friends at our 50th high school reunion that this was our rural period.”
When asked by Beschloss about Bush’s intelligence, Rumsfeld first went into a long tangent about the fact that the public considers all Republic Presidents from Eisenhower to Bush stupid. He reminded the audience that Ford, possibly the finest athlete to live in the White House, was considered clumsy.
“Bush is intelligent. He asked penetrating questions. He worked his way with foreign leaders so that they would do constructive things for the US,” he finally answered.
He applauded Bush for implementing the surge in Iraq at a time when Congress was ready to vote the war out of existence. “When the rebels saw the additional troops, they knew that Bush meant business and was not going to give up. They fell into line.”
The audience did learn one interesting statistic about the Department of Defense. Rumsfeld disclosed that the department employs 10,000 lawyers. The Defense Authorization Act ballooned to 574 pages in 2006 from 74 pages in 1976, when he was Secretary of Defense the first time.
Rumsfeld surprisingly mentioned only Democrats as political heroes. They were Franklin Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson. He did not list well known Republicans such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kelsey Grammer as his friends in the entertainment business, but Sammy Davis Jr. and Elvis Presley.
Rumsfeld left the crowd wanting more. Many complained that Beschloss was much too deferential to Rumsfeld. He did not ask questions about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, or waterboarding.
Beschloss explained, “After he served as Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara never spoke in public again for thirty years. I also wanted to cover different ground than the Diane Sawyer interview.”
There was only one protester outside of the National Constitution Center. She had to stand about 100 feet from the entrance of the building. Maybe, the cold stifled dissent.
The title “Known and Unknown” is a wink and nod to Rumsfeld’s much ridiculed answer about Iraqi plans to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. At a press conference in 2002, Rumsfeld said, ““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.”
In a private conversation with Secretary Rumsfeld while he is signing my book, I asked him about his current thoughts about Israel in light of the recent monumental changes in the Middle East. He said, “If I was Israel, I would be worried with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Rumsfeld spent much of the public part of the program defending Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Curiously, he admitted that Bush never directly asked Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Condileezza Rice, or himself if he should invade Iraq. “He knew that if we thought he was wrong we would have voiced our objections,” said the former Secretary of Defense.
“The Iraqi army had fired more than 2000 missiles at American and British planes that were patrolling the no fly zone,” said Rumsfeld. “What is they had killed someone?”
Rumsfeld insisted, “Saddam Hussein and his family were offered safe passage out of the country, but Saddam refused. There was no regime change after Bush senior invaded Iraq so I think he did not think that this Bush would force him to go.”
In his list of good results from the Iraq invasion, Rumsfeld revealed for the first time, “Omar Kadafi of Libya told the United States that he abandoned his nuclear program after the United States invaded Iraq.”
He surmised that Kadafi did not want to suffer the same fate as Saddam Hussein. “He even offered us the opportunity to inspect his nuclear arsenal,” stated Rumsfeld.
Bizarrely, Rumsfeld mentioned that the John Hopkins Smallpox Study “Dark Winter” influenced his decision to go to war. This study found “If Smallpox virus was released into three locations that 800,000 would die and many more would be infected.”
An audience member requested that Rumfseld, who also served as Secretary of Defense under President Ford, to explain the difference between the Iraq and Vietnam Wars. Rumsfeld replied, “We never feared that the Vietnamese would attack America.” Rumsfeld ignored my question -What is the role of Intelligence Services now that they have been proven horribly wrong about 9/11, Iraqi WMDs, and the uprising in the Middle East?
When he went to meet Bush, Rumsfeld never expected that Bush would ask him to become Secretary of Defense. He joked, “I was old man. Joyce (his wife) was telling friends at our 50th high school reunion that this was our rural period.”
When asked by Beschloss about Bush’s intelligence, Rumsfeld first went into a long tangent about the fact that the public considers all Republic Presidents from Eisenhower to Bush stupid. He reminded the audience that Ford, possibly the finest athlete to live in the White House, was considered clumsy.
“Bush is intelligent. He asked penetrating questions. He worked his way with foreign leaders so that they would do constructive things for the US,” he finally answered.
He applauded Bush for implementing the surge in Iraq at a time when Congress was ready to vote the war out of existence. “When the rebels saw the additional troops, they knew that Bush meant business and was not going to give up. They fell into line.”
The audience did learn one interesting statistic about the Department of Defense. Rumsfeld disclosed that the department employs 10,000 lawyers. The Defense Authorization Act ballooned to 574 pages in 2006 from 74 pages in 1976, when he was Secretary of Defense the first time.
Rumsfeld surprisingly mentioned only Democrats as political heroes. They were Franklin Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson. He did not list well known Republicans such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Kelsey Grammer as his friends in the entertainment business, but Sammy Davis Jr. and Elvis Presley.
Rumsfeld left the crowd wanting more. Many complained that Beschloss was much too deferential to Rumsfeld. He did not ask questions about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, or waterboarding.
Beschloss explained, “After he served as Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara never spoke in public again for thirty years. I also wanted to cover different ground than the Diane Sawyer interview.”
There was only one protester outside of the National Constitution Center. She had to stand about 100 feet from the entrance of the building. Maybe, the cold stifled dissent.
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