| November 10, 2008 | - American officials revealed that since 2004 the U.S. military has conducted around a dozen previously undisclosed attacks in Syria, Pakistan, and other countries on the authority of a classified order signed by Donald Rumsfeld,.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| June 18, 2008 | - Ex-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declined to endorse McCain, who has called him “one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.”
| Source:
The Hill
|
| December 15, 2006 | -
Donald Rumsfeld gave a farewell speech in which he warned that the threat of terrorism is not gone. “Not once, in public or in private,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace about Rumsfeld, “did I ever hear this man try to shift responsibility to anyone else but himself.”
| Source:
MonstersandCritics.com
|
| December 8, 2006 | - Robert Gates was approved by the Senate to replace Donald Rumsfeld as the new secretary of defense; senators described themselves as “very pleased,” “very impressed,” “very enthusiastic,” “very grateful,” and “very happy” with the confirmation. Rumsfeld gave an emotional farewell speech to Pentagon employees, and had to wipe his nose.
| Source 1:
Washington Post
Source 2:
Washington Post
Source 3:
New York Times
|
| November 9, 2006 | - To protest the Iraq war, a man named Malachi Ritscher committed suicide in Chicago by setting himself on fire next to a 25-foot-tall sculpture called “Flame of the Millennium.” Along with a self-penned obituary, the 52-year-old Ritscher posted a farewell message on his website in which he described the “deep shame” of a day in 2002 when he stood, knife in hand, next to Donald Rumsfeld, but was unable to bring himself to slash the defense secretary's throat. “I too love God and country,” wrote Ritscher, “and feel called upon to serve.”
| Source 1:
Malachi Ritscher
Source 2:
Chicago Reader
Source 3:
Chicago Sun-Times
|
| November 9, 2006 | - “Who's Rumsfeld?” asked Marine Lance Corporal James L. Davis Jr., who is serving in Zagarit, Iraq.
| Source:
The New York Times
|
| November 8, 2006 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned, and to replace him President Bush nominated Robert Gates, a member of the Iraq Study Group and former head of the CIA, who was investigated in 1991 by the office of the independent counsel for his role in the Iran-contra scandal, and was suspected to have passed military intelligence to Saddam Hussein's
Iraq.
| Source 1:
GlobalSecurity.org
Source 2:
Mercury News
Source 3:
The New York Times
Source 4:
BBC News
Source 5:
Newsday
|
| October 27, 2006 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told critics of the war to “back off.”
| Source:
Yahoo News
|
| October 13, 2006 | - U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld showed reporters a satellite image of North Korea. “Except for my wife and family,” said Rumsfeld, “that is my favorite photo.”
| Source:
Daily Mail
|
| September 23, 2006 | - In the basement of the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld unleashed his deadly squash drop shot.
| Source:
New York times
|
| September 1, 2006 | - U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld quoted Georges Clemenceau, who said, “War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.”
| Source:
Washington Post
|
| August 19, 2006 | -
Republicans were, in general, neglecting their party's candidate in favor of Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, who said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign.
| Source:
The New York Times
|
| August 3, 2006 | -
Senator
Hillary Clinton called on Donald Rumsfeld to resign.
| Source:
allheadlinenews.com via Google News
|
| July 8, 2006 | -
President Bush said that he was “willing to abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court” in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that the administration's scheme to try prisoners at Guantánamo in military tribunals is illegal. “It didn't say we couldn't have done—couldn't have made that decision, see?” Bush added. “They were silent on whether or not Guantánamo—whether we should have used Guantánamo. In other words, they accepted the use of Guantánamo, the decision I made.”
| Source:
New York Times
|
| June 20, 2006 | -
Donald Rumsfeld called it “strange” that he was required to give sworn testimony to the Pentagon's inspector general about $30 billion in mismanaged government contracts.
| Source:
Washington Post
|
| June 7, 2006 | -
Indonesia's defense minister scolded Rumsfeld for being overbearing.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| June 6, 2006 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the American secretary of defense, traveled to Vietnam, where he complained that Russia is a bully and China is secretive; he also observed that when Vietnam's first university was founded in 1070 American Indians were still living in mud huts. “That's impressive,” he said.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| May 14, 2006 | - The Air Force, under orders from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was researching alternative fuels for its jets. "Energy," said an Air Force representative, "is a national security issue."
| Source:
The New York Times
|
| April 23, 2006 | - The recently-completed “campaign plan for the global war on terrorism” was approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The new plan calls for “special mission units” to be engaged in continuous warfare around the world; such groups will be permitted to invade a country without the approval of the country's U.S. ambassador.
| Source:
The Washington Post
|
| April 16, 2006 | - Six former U.S. generals called for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign.
| Source:
The Age
|
| April 16, 2006 | - It was reported that Donald Rumsfeld was “personally involved” in the torture of Guantánamo Bay detainee Mohamed al-Qahtani, who was made to perform “dog tricks”; Rumsfeld was allegedly briefed on the progress of al-Qahtani's interrogations by phone.
| Source:
The Age
|
| March 14, 2006 | -
Donald Rumsfeld denied that Iraq was in a civil war.
| Source:
CNN
|
| February 17, 2006 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called for the United States to increase its propaganda efforts in the Middle East.
| Source:
BBC News
|
| February 3, 2006 | - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Adolf Hitler because both Chavez and Hitler were elected legally and then "consolidated power." He also pointed out that Chavez has "a lot of oil money."
| Source:
MSNBC
|
| February 3, 2006 | -
Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech to the National Press Club and said that "counter-surveillance" of U.S. civilians is a "perfectly understandable thing." "In short," he explained, "it's no big deal." During the speech, Rumsfeld was heckled by activist Heather Hurwitz. "You are torturing people," yelled Hurwitz. "You are a war criminal." "Well," said Rumsfeld, "we'll count her as undecided."
| Source 1:
News.com.au
Source 2:
Democracy Now
|
| February 1, 2006 | - The Joint Chiefs of Staff complained to the Washington Post about a cartoon that showed Donald Rumsfeld telling an armless and legless soldier: "I am listing your condition as battle-hardened." "Using the likeness of a service member who has lost his arms and legs in war as the central theme of a cartoon," wrote the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "is beyond tasteless."
| Source:
The Washingtonian
|
| December 7, 2005 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld criticized the media in a speech, claiming that news is “reported and spread around the world, often with little context and little scrutiny, let alone correction or accountability after the fact.”
| Source:
Reuters
|
| November 18, 2005 | -
General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, presented a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
| Source:
CNN.com
|
| November 15, 2005 | - Ahmad Chalabi met with Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Washington, D.C.
| Source:
AP
|
| August 24, 2005 | -
Donald Rumsfeld compared the supporters of the anti-war movement to the supporters of Joseph Stalin.
| Source:
Democracy Now!
|
| June 27, 2005 | - “Insurgencies,” said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, “tend to go on five, six, eight, ten, twelve years.”
| Source:
BBC News
|
| June 15, 2005 | -
Donald Rumsfeld admitted that, statistically, things were just as bad in Iraq as they were at the time Saddam Hussein was deposed. However, he said, “a lot of bad things that could have happened have not happened.”
| Source:
BBC News
|
| June 2, 2005 | -
Donald Rumsfeld said that he did not know how foreign suicide bombers were getting into Iraq.
| Source:
New York Daily News
|
| May 22, 2005 | - The Bush Administration continued to criticize Newsweek for reporting that U.S. soldiers had desecrated the Koran. “People need to be careful what they say,” said Donald Rumsfeld. “Our United States military personnel go out of their way,” said White House press secretary Scott McClellan, “to make sure that the Holy Koran is treated with care.”
| Source:
New York Times
|
| May 18, 2005 | -
British MP George Galloway went to Washington, D.C., to respond to allegations that he profited from the U.N.-managed Iraq oil-for-food program. “I met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him,” said Galloway. “The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns, and to give him maps the better to target those guns.”
| Source:
Guardian
|
| May 1, 2005 | - Arab newspapers reported that Donald Rumsfeld had a secret visit with Saddam Hussein and offered to free him if Hussein called for a ceasefire in Iraq. Hussein apparently refused.
| Source:
Al Jazeera
|
| April 14, 2005 | - Entomologists named three newly discovered species of slime-mold beetle after George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld.
| Source:
USA Today
|
| March 23, 2005 | -
Venezuela ordered 100,000 assault rifles from Russia; Donald Rumsfeld said that was too many.
| Source:
Sign On San Diego
|
| March 2, 2005 | - Four Iraqis and four Afghans sued Donald Rumsfeld for torture.
| Source:
Chicago Tribune
|
| February 11, 2005 | -
Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq.
| Source:
News24
|
| February 4, 2005 | -
Donald Rumsfeld had a clear conscience.
| Source:
BBC News
|
| December 24, 2004 | -
Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise trip to Mosul on Christmas Eve.
| Source:
New York Timesimes
|
| December 23, 2004 | - Donald Rumsfeld, under criticism for having his condolence letters to the families of dead American soldiers signed by an automatic pen, said he stays “awake at night for concern for those at risk.”
| Source:
SFGate
|
| December 19, 2004 | - and Donald Rumsfeld announced that from now on he would personally sign condolence letters sent to the families of soldiers killed in action, instead of using a machine.
| Source:
CNN
|
| December 14, 2004 | - Senator John McCain said he had no confidence in Donald Rumsfeld.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| December 8, 2004 | - Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked at a pep talk in Kuwait, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Rumsfeld mused, "You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have." Besides, he noted, "You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can still be blown up."
| Source:
AP
|
| October 10, 2004 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq and told soldiers that the violence there will probably get worse; while he was in the country two car bombs went off in Baghdad, killing 11 people.
| Source:
Los Angeles Times
|
| September 23, 2004 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that the ongoing war could result in a "limited" election. "Well, so be it," he said. "Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect."
| Source:
Reuters
|
| June 17, 2004 | -
Donald Rumsfeld admitted that he personally ordered that an Iraqi prisoner be concealed from the Red Cross, a practice that Gen. Anthony Taguba has described as "deceptive, contrary to Army doctrine, and in violation of international law." Seven months later, the "ghost" prisoner had still not been interrogated, aside from a cursory session when he first arrived at Camp Cropper.
| Source:
Reuters, New York Times
|
| June 4, 2004 | - George Tenet resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency; he claimed that he was quitting for personal reasons, though there was no shortage of professional ones. Much speculation followed concerning who would be next.
| Source:
Washington Post
|
| May 23, 2004 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld banned digital cameras and camera phones from U.S. military bases in Iraq.
| Source:
Australian Broadcasting Company
|
| May 15, 2004 | - It was reported that the Abu Ghraib torture fiasco was a product of a covert Pentagon operation — a so-called special-access program, authorized by Donald Rumsfeld and run by his undersecretary Stephen Cambone — that applied unconventional interrogation techniques developed for use in Afghanistan to the situation in Iraq.
| Source:
New Yorker
|
| May 13, 2004 | -
Rumsfeld, who this week made a surprise visit to Abu Ghraib prison, compared the Iraq war to the American Civil War and said that "the carnage was horrendous, and it was worth it."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| May 11, 2004 | -
President Bush told Donald Rumsfeld that he has been doing a "superb job."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| May 9, 2004 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized for the torture of Iraqi prisoners and said that there are "many more photographs and indeed some videos" of American soldiers engaging in "blatantly sadistic, cruel, and inhuman" behavior; Rumsfeld took "full responsibility" for the abuse but still refused to resign. "It's going to get a good deal more terrible, I'm afraid." Specialist Sabrina Harman, who faces court martial because of her role in the torture, said in an email that she never even saw a copy of the Geneva Conventions until recently. "I read the entire thing," she said, "highlighting everything the prison is in violation of. There's a lot." Harman said her job was to "soften up" prisoners for interrogation.
| Source:
Telegraph
|
| May 9, 2004 | - President Bush, who authorized his staff to leak the fact that he had privately rebuked Donald Rumsfeld for failing to tell him about the torture photographs, apologized on Arab television; British Prime Minister Tony Blair also apologized, though there were questions about the authenticity of the British images.
| Source:
New York Times, Agence France-Presse
|
| May 9, 2004 | - "Don Rumsfeld is the best secretary of defense the United States has ever had," said Vice President Dick Cheney. "People ought to let him do his job."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| April 13, 2004 | - A Democratic club in south Florida took out a newspaper ad saying that Donald Rumsfeld should be "put up against a wall" and shot.
| Source:
Associated Press
|
| April 7, 2004 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, held a press conference: "We're trying to explain how things are going, and they are going as they are going," he said. "And this is a moment in Iraq's path toward a democratic and a free system. And it is one moment, and there will be other moments. And there will be good moments and there will be less good moments."
| Source:
Defense Dept. Operational Briefing
|
| March 28, 2004 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking of Pakistan's
nuclear-weapons trafficking, said, "I do not believe that there's any evidence or any suggestion that President Musharraf was involved." Musharraf, for his part, denied that he had made a deal with the Americans to crack down on Al Qaeda in return for lenient treatment for selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya, Iran, and others; he also denied that his country's proliferation had done much harm. "If I hand over a missile or a bomb to any extremist, believe me, he can do nothing about it," Musharraf said. "He cannot explode it."
| Source:
Reuters
|
| March 22, 2004 | - Richard Clarke, the former head of counterterrorism under Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, published a book in which he claims that George W. Bush has done a "terrible job" fighting terrorism. Clarke says that prior to September 11, Bush ignored warnings about the threat from Al Qaeda and that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the days just after the attacks, wanted to bomb Iraq rather than Afghanistan because Iraq had better bombing targets. Clarke charges that the president made it very clear that he wanted to find a connection between September 11 and Saddam Hussein even though there was no evidence of such a link.
| Source:
CBS News
|
| February 11, 2004 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that he did not recall British Prime Minister Tony Blair's prewar claim that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes. "I don't remember the statement being made, to be perfectly honest." The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, didn't remember it either.
| Source:
Sydney Morning Herald
|
| December 6, 2003 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went to Afghanistan to reassure its people that America has not forgotten them.
| Source:
BBC
|
| November 3, 2003 | - Iraqi guerrillas hiding in a grove of date palms shot down an American military helicopter near Fallujah; 16 died and 20 were wounded. Most of the soldiers were leaving Iraq on furlough. Two civilian contractors and one U.S. soldier were killed the same day by roadside bombs. "In a long war," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "we are going to have tragic days. But they're necessary."
| Source:
Associated Press
|
| October 31, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld was asked whether he's lost his "mojo"; the defense secretary responded that he didn't know, because he didn't know what mojo means.
| Source:
Reuters
|
| October 23, 2003 | - There were grumblings among Republicans, none of whom spoke on the record, that Rumsfeld has become a political liability.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| October 22, 2003 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted in a leaked memo that the United States still doesn't have much of a plan for fighting the war on terrorism,
| Source:
Reuters
|
| October 17, 2003 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended Lt. Gen. William Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and war-fighting support, who was videotaped making a number of impolite comments about Islam. Boykin was also videotaped propounding a new theory of American electoral politics: "Why is this man [George W. Bush] in the White House?" he asked in a speech. "The majority of Americans didn't vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| October 9, 2003 | - Tensions were beginning to surface publicly between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, over the creation of Rice's Iraq Stability Group, which will oversee the chaos in Iraq. Rumsfeld was irritated that he was not told about the new group, and there were rumors, which the White House denied, that Rumsfeld has fallen out of the president's favor.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| September 26, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld claimed that the president's $87 billion request for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan constituted an "exit strategy."
| Source:
Financial Times
|
| September 11, 2003 | - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that a new Security Council resolution would be helpful, because it would allow other countries to pretend that the Iraqi occupation was a multinational operation, which would justify sending more money.
Rumsfeld said that tourism will soon be a major industry in Iraq.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| September 8, 2003 | - and surface-to-air missiles were fired at a transport plane in Baghdad.
Donald Rumsfeld, who was nearby, said that such attacks are just a cost of doing business.
Rumsfeld claimed that there has been "breathtaking" progress in Afghanistan since the war ended.
"I'm not being Pollyannaish," he said.
"I'm telling the truth."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| September 6, 2003 | - Gunmen fired on a Sunni mosque in Baghdad just after morning prayers and injured three people, a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the Baghdad police department, a British bomb squad expert was killed, an American Humvee was blown up, and Lt.
Gen.
Ricardo Sanchez said that attacks on American forces were down to about 14 or 15 a day.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was touring Iraq and Afghanistan, complained that the news media was ignoring "the story of success and accomplishment" in Iraq.
| Source:
Austin American-Statesman
|
| September 5, 2003 | -
Rumsfeld acknowledged that he still doesn't know who is carrying out the guerrilla attacks but said that the intelligence community is working on it.
"They're not comfortable at the moment with what we don't know."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| August 15, 2003 | - Opium production was up in Afghanistan; Donald Rumsfeld described the situation as "one whale of a tough problem."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| July 18, 2003 | - "This is the future for the world we're in at the moment," a special assistant to Donald Rumsfeld said about the unrest in Iraq.
"We'll get better as we do it more often."
| Source:
Los Angeles Times
|
| July 16, 2003 | - Several U.S. soldiers complained on television that morale was low and that they wanted to go home.
"If Donald Rumsfeld were here, I'd ask him for his resignation," said one.
"I would ask him why we are still here," said another.
"I don't have any clue as to why we are still in Iraq."
| Source:
Reuters
|
| June 27, 2003 | -
He also said that he doesn't "know anybody in any government or any intelligence agency who suggested that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons"; it was immediately pointed out that Vice President Dick Cheney made precisely that claim in March.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| June 25, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, made the surprising claim that "before the war, there was no debate about whether Iraq had unconventional weapons."
| Source:
New York Times
|
| June 14, 2003 | - An Iraqi shepherd filed a $200 million lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld for the deaths of 17 family members and 200 sheep.
| Source:
Agence France-Presse
|
| June 13, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld threatened to move NATO's headquarters out of Brussels because of Belgium's law that permits lawsuits for war crimes committed anywhere in the world.
| Source:
Daily Telegraph
|
| May 28, 2003 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in response to complaints that weapons of mass destruction still have not been found in Iraq, speculated that Iraq might have destroyed its illegal weapons before the war began.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| May 27, 2003 | - A Virginia woman crashed into Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's car but failed to injure him.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| May 15, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld denied reports that U.S. soldiers in Iraq were going to start shooting looters on sight, though he did tell the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee that American forces in Baghdad "will be using muscle to see that the people who are trying to disrupt what is taking place in that city are stopped and either captured or killed."
| |
| May 2, 2003 | - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared that "major combat" was over in Afghanistan;
| Source:
New York Times
|
| April 29, 2003 | -
The North Koreans admitted they already have nuclear weapons and may test, export, or use them depending on U.S. actions; Donald Rumsfeld thought this might present an opportunity for another “regime change.” The U.S. warned Iran not to meddle in Iraq's political affairs and accused the country of sending agents into the south to promote an Iranian model of government; to counter the damage, troops and intelligence officers were asking Iraqi clerics to please issue fatwas in support of the American administration of the country.
| |
| April 29, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld denied that the Bush Administration wishes to establish military bases in postwar Iraq and worried that the widely reported story might give other countries the wrong impression.
| |
| April 22, 2003 | -
The Bechtel Corporation, whose chairman advises President Bush on international-trade issues and whose senior vice president advises Donald Rumsfeld on defense policy, won the first major Iraq reconstruction project, with a value of up to $680 million.
| |
| April 15, 2003 | -
Asked whether Syria was “next,” Donald Rumsfeld said: “It depends on people's behavior.
Certainly I have nothing to announce.”
| |
| April 15, 2003 | -
Baghdad and other cities in Iraq were in chaos; mobs were looting businesses, government offices, and private homes.
“You cannot do everything simultaneously,” said Donald Rumsfeld. “It's untidy.
And freedom's untidy.
And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes.”
| |
| April 8, 2003 | -
Pentagon officials and Army commanders were complaining that Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, had prevented them from deploying enough ground troops to carry out the invasion of Iraq.
| |
| March 11, 2003 | -
Two dozen long-range bombers were sent to Guam, where they will be close enough to strike North Korea if necessary; Donald Rumsfeld said that the move was not “aggressive or threatening or hostile.” People in the Congo were still dying of Ebola fever.
| |
| March 4, 2003 | -
“I happen to think,” said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, “that thinking we cannot deploy something until you have everything perfect, every 'i' dotted and every 't' crossed, is probably not a good idea.” President Bush nominated N.
| |
| February 25, 2003 | -
Bush Administration officials, apparently concerned that the war in Iraq might not go smoothly, told reporters that Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, has a five-page list of “war risks” that he keeps in a desk drawer and refers to constantly.
| |
| February 11, 2003 | -
North Korea resumed “normal operations” at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld put two dozen B-52 and B-1 bombers on alert.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said by way of explanation that “the president continues to believe that the matter with North Korea can be resolved through diplomatic means, but that does not mean that the United States will always have contingencies and make certain our contingencies are viable.”
| |
| January 28, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, dismissed France and Germany, and said they were part of “old Europe.” “We're nearing the end of the long road,” Rumsfeld said.
| |
| January 14, 2003 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, ordered 62,000 more American troops to the Persian Gulf.
| |
| December 17, 2002 | -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was thinking about launching a propaganda campaign aimed at friendly countries.
| |
| November 5, 2002 | -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared that the military's nine regional commanders may no longer be called “commander in chief” of their areas, thus reserving the title exclusively for the president.
| |
| October 29, 2002 | -
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld mentioned that some of the prisoners at Guantánamo naval base might be released someday: “There are some people likely to come out the other end of the chute,” he said.
| |
| September 10, 2002 | -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asked by his deputy Paul Wolfowitz for advice on how to deal with the press, replied: “Here's how you deal with the media.
| |
| September 3, 2002 | -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that President Bush had not yet decided whether to invade Iraq and that it was important for Americans to “engage in a somewhat elevated, thoughtful discussion about what free people ought to do given the circumstances of the 21st century.” Secretary Rumsfeld compared President Bush to Winston Churchill and said that Saddam Hussein was acting like Adolf Hitler. British historians begged to differ.
| |
| June 25, 2002 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, reported that he sold between $20.5 million and $91 million in assets last year and complained that he had to pay accountants $60,000 to figure out how to fill out the required disclosure forms.
| |
| June 18, 2002 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, told American sailors in Bahrain that Saddam Hussein is a “world-class liar” who already has chemical weapons and could soon have nuclear and biological weapons, too.
| |
| April 2, 2002 | -
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld explained that even if Afghan war prisoners manage to be acquitted in military tribunals, it would be “mindless” to let them go.
| |
| March 12, 2002 | -
There was heavy fighting in Afghanistan; eight American soldiers were killed.
“First let me say that our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and the friends of the service members who have lost their lives in our ongoing operations in Vietnam,” said General Tommy Franks, who oversees Operation Enduring Freedom from Tampa, Florida. “Certainly that sacrifice is appreciated by this nation.” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that “the United States is leaning forward and not back.”
| |
| February 26, 2002 | -
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed that the new office will not lie to the public but might “do things,” which he characterized as “tactical deception,” to confuse the enemy.
| |
| February 19, 2002 | -
Evidence of the bombing of Afghan civilians by United States forces continued to emerge; American officials tried to justify the killing of Daraz Khan, known as “Tall Man,” who was hit by a missile as he gathered scrap metal near the village of Khost.
They said that because the man was tall and appeared to be treated with deference by his companions, it was assumed that he was Osama bin Laden, who is six feet four.
“We're convinced that it was an appropriate target,” said a Pentagon spokesman, “but we do not know yet exactly who it was.” “There's not much to add,” said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, “except there's one version and there's the other version.”
| |
| February 12, 2002 | -
After weeks of denials, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld admitted that American forces might have killed friendly Afghan soldiers (not to mention innocent civilians) in a raid last month in a village north of Kandahar; the Americans apparently were tricked by a warlord who was trying to take over the village.
| |
| January 29, 2002 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defense, insisted that the Afghan war prisoners, whom President Bush refuses to classify as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, were not being mistreated, even though the photographs that provide evidence of sensory deprivation and other psychological abuses were released by the Pentagon, a release, which Rumsfeld characterized as “probably unfortunate,” that in itself may have violated the Geneva Conventions' prohibition against making a spectacle of prisoners.
| |
| January 8, 2002 | -
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that Afghanistan's interim government was doing just what America wants: “They agree with us.
| |
| November 6, 2001 | - Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, asked about the massacre, said: “I cannot deal with that particular village.” General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that United States forces would change the color of the yellow food packets being dropped from the air. “It is unfortunate that the cluster bombs — the unexploded ones — are the same color as the food packets,” he said, but he couldn't say when the change would take place “because there are many in the pipeline.” Human Rights Watch called on the Pentagon to stop using cluster bombs, each of which contains 202 soda-sized yellow bomblets, because “they have proven to be a serious and long-lasting threat to civilians, soldiers, peacekeepers, and even clearance experts.”
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| October 30, 2001 | - Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld warned that Osama bin Laden might get away: “It's a big world,” he noted.
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| October 30, 2001 | -
Donald Rumsfeld asserted that the Afghan
war is “not a quagmire.” Israelis and Palestinians continued to make war on one another; the death count rose to 728 Palestinians and 186 Israelis.
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| September 25, 2001 | -
President George W. Bush declared that all the nations of the earth must choose sides in the coming crusade against terrorism, and he promised to attack Afghanistan if its leaders refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the famous terrorist, whom the President has described as “Wanted: Dead or Alive.” Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that the preliminary brand-name of the American military campaign, Operation Infinite Justice, would probably be changed, because it was offensive to Muslims, for whom infinite justice is a divine attribute. Some Christians also found the name offensive.
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| August 21, 2001 | -
Donald Rumsfeld, the American secretary of defense, explained that his much-ballyhooed “revolution in military affairs” was not a revolution at all but was instead a “transformation”: “When they see that word,” he explained, seeking to comfort critics in Congress and among the troops, “there's a tendency to think that you go from this to something different.” In fact, he said, you can do something rather modest, like improve communications, which “could be characterized as transformed or transformational.” President George W. Bush declared that peace would come to the Middle East only after everyone stopped fighting.
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| July 3, 2001 | -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that he would ask Congress to retire the MX missile, also known as the “Peacekeeper.” Bob Dole had an aneurysm.
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| June 12, 2001 | - Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said that the White House was willing to deploy anti-missile defense
technology before it was proved to work.
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| May 8, 2001 | -
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered that all routine contact with the Chinese military be suspended, then revoked the order after the White House got upset, which led to speculation of a power struggle within the Republican cabal. “We're going to review all opportunities to interface with the Chinese,” President Bush clarified.
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| March 27, 2001 | -
Moscow warned the United States about its new Cold War rhetoric; the Russians were upset over remarks by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said that “Russia is an active proliferator” of dangerous weapons
technology which “seems to be willing to sell anything to anyone for money.” The United States expelled 50 Russian diplomats, four of whom were thought to have been working with Robert Philip Hanssen, the FBI agent recently arrested for spying; Russia in turn said it would expel the 50 diplomats most precious to America.
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| February 20, 2001 | -
Russia warned that the United States was reverting to Cold War rhetoric after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denounced Russia as an “active proliferator” of dangerous technology. “They are part of the problem,” he said, defending President George W. Bush's plans, over Russia's objections, to deploy an anti-missile system. “Why they would be actively proliferating and then complaining when the United States wants to defend itself against the fruit of those proliferation activities it seems to me is misplaced.”
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