Skip to main content

Rumsfeld's Memo of "What Did Not Happen" - but eventually actually did!

If you want to see evil at its best and a total disregard for human life - all in the name of politics and preserving one's own name - look no further than this just released Memo by Donald Rumsfeld of "What Did Not Happen". And in the end it actually did happen.

CommonDreams reports"

"In July 2004, as the Iraq War spiraled out of control, a beleaguered Donald Rumsfeld drew up a "What Did Not Happen?" memo - mass Iraqi casualties, surge in terror recruitments, Shi'a holy sites damaged, Iraq descends into anarchy - to make himself feel and look better. Then, most of those things happened. Among the Monty Python-esque revelations from Gawker under a Freedom of Information Act request: Rumsfeld casually suggests "new regimes" in "one (or two)" Mideast countries, his less than brilliant observations the U.S. has "a stake in (Afghanistan) not failing" and "Korea doesn't seem to be going well," and his glibly reprehensible take on killing civilians: "I have a high tolerance level for possible error," after which over 1,000 Afghan civilians were in fact killed by U.S. bombs. It must be said: Why is this moral and intellectual failure of a human being not in prison?"



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as