The Return of Rumsfeld

Is the master of the rhetorical question back? Well, in spirit at least. Truthdig contributor Allen McDuffee warns that a group of Democratic foreign policy hawks is pushing one of Donald Rumsfeld’s big ideas for overhauling the U.S. military. These are the same security-obsessed Democrats, by the way, who helped sell the Iraq war to the American people.

The New York Observer:

Eighteen months after former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld retreated from his post under heavy criticism for, among other things, mishandling the invasion of Iraq and legitimizing torture as an interrogation technique, some Washington insiders are revisiting his strategies and tactics.

Notably, resurrecting Rumsfeld’s idea—a comprehensive plan to overhaul the military—hasn’t been reintroduced into the public dialog by die-hard neo-conservatives. The project is being led by a faction of security-obsessed Democrats.

Several weeks ago, military analyst Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution published a 60-page report, “Unfinished Business: U.S. Overseas Military Presence in the 21st Century,” which recommended that the next president return to Rumsfeld’s “chief intellectual and policy accomplishment during his six-year tenure at the Pentagon.” He was followed shortly afterward by Robert D. Kaplan, who came out with “What Rumsfeld Got Right” in the July/August “Ideas Issue” of The Atlantic. The Atlantic also produced, with Kaplan as narrator, a 13-minute video accompaniment to his essay.

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DoD photo / Chad J. McNeeley