Former Neocon US War Secretary Rumsfeld Dies

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

As Bush/Cheney regime war secretary, Rumsfeld headed its war OF terror, not on it.

Former NATO commander General Wesley Clark earlier said that the US underwent a post-9/11 transformation. A "policy coup" occurred. 

With no public debate or acknowledgement, hardliners in Washington usurped power. 

Days after 9/11, Clark learned from Pentagon commanders that plans were made to "destroy the governments in seven countries." 

Besides Afghanistan, Yemen and partnering with Israeli wars on Palestinians, they include Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran.

Weeks after the Soviet Union's December 1991 dissolution, the so-called (Paul) Wolfowitz doctrine shaped US geopolitics, stating:

"Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union." 

"This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power."

His doctrine was a virtual declaration of endless wars on invented enemies.

From early 2001 through mid-2005, Wolfowitz served with Rumsfeld as Bush/Cheney regime deputy war secretary.

Unindicted for crimes of war and against humanity too egregious to ignore, a special place in hellfire awaits Rumsfeld — as well as Wolfowitz, other Bush/Cheney regime officials, and their successors when they pass.

Rumsfeld was criminally involved in orchestrating Bush/Cheney regime aggression on nonthreatening Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq.

His dirty hands were likely involved in the 9/11 mother of all state-sponsored false flags to that time that was all about launching war on humanity in pursuit of US hegemonic aims.

At a December 15, 2006 Pentagon retirement spectacle for Rumsfeld, Cheney defied reality, saying:

"I believe the record speaks for itself. Don Rumsfeld is the finest (war secretary) this nation ever had (sic)."

Bush defied reality by falsely claiming that US aggression "helped the Iraqi people establish a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East (sic), a watershed event in the story of freedom (sic)," adding:

Rumsfeld "knows how to lead (sic). "The country is better off for it (sic)."

His blood-drenched resume is self-explanatory. The same goes for Bush/Cheney and other regime war criminals.

Months ahead of Rumsfeld's retirement, the ACLU and Human Rights First filed a landmark lawsuit against him and complicit regime officials in March 2005.

It charged them with "direct responsibility for the torture and abuse of detainees" held for political, not legitimate, reasons in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

International and constitutional law prohibit torture and other forms of abuse.

According to human rights groups and the ICRC, Rumsfeld and complicit Bush/Cheney regime officials ordered enhanced interrogation pain and suffering of detainees at US black site torture prisons.

On March 27, 2007, the ACLU explained that "Chief Judge Thomas A. Hogan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the case" — unjustifiably, adding:  

"Despite rejecting key constitutional protections for the victims bringing the suit, Judge Hogan declared in his ruling that the case (was) 'lamentable…appalling,' and noted 'facts alleged in the complaint stand as an indictment of the humanity (sic) with which the United States treats its detainees."

Hogan ignored amicus briefs — with damning evidence — submitted by US military legal experts and retired officers in support of the lawsuit.

Torture and other forms of abuse of detainees had nothing to do with "national security and military decision-making."

The ACLU also explained that "(t)wo of the world's foremost scholars on the international laws against torture and abusive treatment also filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit."

An April 2008 appeal by the ACLU and Human Rights First to overturn Hogan's unacceptable ruling was denied.

In retirement, Rumsfeld and other former Bush/Cheney regime officials remained unapologetic for the highest of high crimes of war, against humanity, and related criminality on their watch.

Commenting on Rumsfeld's passing, the pro-war NYT quoted his defiance of reality by claiming that preemptive US post-9/11 wars "created a more stable and secure world (sic)."

Neocon WaPo called him "a skilled bureaucrat and visionary (sic) of a modern US military."

WSJ editors described him as "a patriot (sic) willing to challenge recalcitrant bureaucracies, which we need more of today (sic)."

AP News quoted GW Bush, saying as war secretary, he "carried out…dut(ies) with strength, skill and honor (sic)."

Biden regime war secretary Lloyd Austin praised Rumsfeld's "boundless energy, probing intellect, and abiding commitment to serve his country (sic)."

On his watch, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq were raped and destroyed, millions killed and immiserated. 

More of the same followed against Libya and Syria by the Obama/Biden regime, along with US wars by other means against dozens of nonthreatening nations for not subjugating their sovereign rights to US imperial interests.

Both right wings of the US war party continue forever wars by hot and/or other means on invented enemies.

The business of America is war, the world's leading purveyor of state-sponsored terrorism globally with no end of it in prospect.

US history from inception shows it's addicted to endless wars – falsely glorified in the name of peace, a notion abhorred by its ruling class.

Making the world safe for militarists and monied interests unjustifiably justifies an endless cycle of US/NATO warmaking.

A nation addicted to endless wars for wealth and power risks ending life on planet earth to own it.

If that's where things are heading, we're all doomed.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/

"Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

https://www.claritypress.com/product/banker-occupation-waging-financial-war-on-humanity/

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