Tbf he said reluctant not unwilling
Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has died at age 88
- Thread starter stockhausen
- Start date
In fairness, the only people who don't think poorly of him would be people who don't know who he is or what he did. He was not a good person, having said that I feel bad for his family.
TBH maybe we shouldn't have "X has died" threads for hate figures? It's not like this was ever going to go well, yes it's newsworthy but so would be the death of Josef Fritzl lol.
So you are saying he stepped into daylight and burst into flames?
Associate
- Joined
- 20 Mar 2014
- Posts
- 2,361
I think they wanted the oil. But also wanted rid of saddam. I mean he was genocidal.
Either way there were no wmds and Rumsfelt knew that and lied to the world.
And now look at Iraq. Full of Islamic state.
Look at Afghanistan full of taliban still.
China kinda has a better idea of investing in other countries and building roads and other infrastructure but they do it with unfair deals and push communism. I'm glad Biden is incharge and that the republicans are out because they are wrong about most things. And now the USA has its own policy to invest in poorer countries rather than just invading.
But still bad leaders do need to be got rid of. If they get big enough weapons we should do our best to sort it some how. We don't want Iran enriching uranium. Or north Korea getting icbms.
I wouldnt mind if they attacked Iran or nk. Because they are becoming a threat to the world. Pretty solid evidence for this. And also stop funding isreal
Either way there were no wmds and Rumsfelt knew that and lied to the world.
And now look at Iraq. Full of Islamic state.
Look at Afghanistan full of taliban still.
China kinda has a better idea of investing in other countries and building roads and other infrastructure but they do it with unfair deals and push communism. I'm glad Biden is incharge and that the republicans are out because they are wrong about most things. And now the USA has its own policy to invest in poorer countries rather than just invading.
But still bad leaders do need to be got rid of. If they get big enough weapons we should do our best to sort it some how. We don't want Iran enriching uranium. Or north Korea getting icbms.
I wouldnt mind if they attacked Iran or nk. Because they are becoming a threat to the world. Pretty solid evidence for this. And also stop funding isreal
Not guilty magnolia, apparently there is an Oxford St. Glasgow, also a crossroads north of the Clyde at the intersection of Sauchiehall St. called Charing X, and a Piccadilly Street too.
If you check Ahleckz profile, he’s in Glasgow, I drove a Black Cab in civilisation, some 650 km to the south of that lovely city.
Again, not guilty, I refer you to my post # 26, but thanks for thinking of me.
I love the way you post. It’s almost poetic.
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2006
- Posts
- 12,130
Did you get to speak to Rumsfeld then? Where and when was that?
By all accounts Rumsfeld was generally accepted as being suitable material for a CEO but not for the world of Politics. I think that Rumsfeld can reasonably be criticised for his failure to foresee the consequences of the US (and UK) actions in Iraq.
Saddam Hussein was an evil, vicious, brutal dictator but the idea that simply removing him and his apparatus of control and not replacing him and it with something was going to lead to a disaster. One should bear in mind that Rumsfeld had been happy to shake hands with Saddam Hussein when the US felt that Iraq could sort out Iran and also just happened to have huge oil reserves.
I'd split his Governmental service into 2 very different sections - His 1975 to 1977 era as Secretary of Defense where he did some outstanding work, completely overhauling the ruinous Vietnam era "Draftee" military and starting the process which would eventually lead to the US having one of the highest trained and best equipped professional armies in the world by the early 1980's, directly leading into the Regan years which finally ended the cold war.
On the other hand his later 2000 to 2006 years as, again, Secretary of Defense will forever be tainted by the utterly unnecessary and world altering attack on Iraq. The vast majority of the world was behind the US after 9/11 and their ousting of Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and yet the 2003 invasion of Iraq did absolutely nothing to make the world safer and is rightly (IMHO) seen as the the lowest point of the "US is the good guy" era in world wide politics, with millions of lives effected and trillions wasted over yet another "Bright Shining Lie".
On the other hand his later 2000 to 2006 years as, again, Secretary of Defense will forever be tainted by the utterly unnecessary and world altering attack on Iraq. The vast majority of the world was behind the US after 9/11 and their ousting of Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and yet the 2003 invasion of Iraq did absolutely nothing to make the world safer and is rightly (IMHO) seen as the the lowest point of the "US is the good guy" era in world wide politics, with millions of lives effected and trillions wasted over yet another "Bright Shining Lie".
I like this post.
China be like borrow some money you can never afford to pay back.
I heard it's how drug dealers get people started
Soldato
- Joined
- 9 Jun 2005
- Posts
- 4,698
- Location
- Wiltshire
Iran and NK worthy of intervention, but not Afghanistan and Iraq?
There was solid evidence that Saddam was a threat same with the Taliban and their buddies in Al qaeda.
This is an old video regarding Iraq/Iran/NK but worth watching from someone who had been to the places.
RIP. It's possible that we could've done a better job than what we left behind in Iraq, but TBH it seems like that region is always going to be either a tribal warzone or ruled through brutality as Hussein did. The only thing that really ***** me off about it was that they lied about WMD to profit financially.
Look around around you now, lots of people are seen to be the good guys and it’s clear that history won’t look back very kindly on them.
Tbh I hardly follow it anymore, trump was the last of the old school I would say. It's so varied now.
Yes, I regularly had cups of tea and slices of cake with him
I think thats probably why I liked him. Because he didn't come across as a politician.