Rumsfelt Rewrites Iraq History

At the Hudson Institute a couple of weeks ago, Donald Rumsfeld looked comfortable. Surrounded by former Defense Department colleagues at a panel discussion on "The Pentagon During the Rumsfeld Era," he was in his element. When it was his turn to speak, he joked, "I now go to work with the panel I have" -- an oblique reference to his much criticized statement during the Iraq War, "You go to war with the army you have." After several years out of the public eye, Rumsfeld is back, making the rounds on the weekday talk-show circuit with his memoir in tow. While Known and Unknown, which largely focuses on his five years as secretary of defense under George W. Bush, was written well before there was even a hint that the Arab Spring was coming, Rumsfeld's re-emergence comes at an opportune time. As the history of the Bush wars begins to crystallize and the U.S. has thrown its support behind popular uprisings in the Arab world, Rumsfeld is defending the use of military to force to bring about regime change. Using recent U.S. interventions in the Middle East as a prism, he is trying to shape his own legacy, largely synonymous with the Iraq War. More Here.