[Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence, left; Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, right]

The recent resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was so long overdue that it would be perverse to offer thanks to President Bush for accepting the obvious-beyond-belief relief of the event. There is hardly a negative adjective that has not been used to describe Rummy’s tenure at the Pentagon. Simply watching him sneer and jeer his way through a press conference, showing such uncompromising disdain for anyone who did not worship his version of the truth, explains how the Iraq debacle unraveled from the start.

It is tempting to compare Rumsfeld, as a close ally of the President, with Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln’s irascible and controversial Secretary of War. As a Buchanan (not the modern-day conservative variety) Democrat who at first labeled Lincoln ” the original gorilla,” he later became a close confidante and supporter of President Lincoln, even though he did not always obey his commander-in-chief. Continue reading Rummy Cute →