Year of manufacture: 2011
Author: Donald Rumsfeld
Genre: Memoirs
Publisher: Penguin Group
English language
Format:DJVU
Number of Pages: 832
Rumsfeld about the war in Iraq, Bush's mistakes and his children
Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld believes that the war in Iraq cost the losses that it brought and does not see how it could be avoided.
If the government of Saddam Hussein remained in power, the Middle East would be "a much more dangerous place than now," wrote Rumsfeld, 78, in his autobiography The Known and Unknown, which will be on sale in the US on Tuesday.
The memories of a veteran of American politics can become one of the main political bestsellers of the year.
The title of the book appeals to Rumsfeld's winged statement in February 2002 at a press conference in Washington.
Then, when asked by journalists about Saddam Hussein's alleged intentions to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon chief philosophically remarked: "There are well-known known things: these are things we know we know them." There are known unknowns. we know that we do not know them, but there are still unknown unknowns, these are things that we do not know about, that we do not know them. "
The biggest regret
The 800-page edition is the almost complete biography of one of the most influential persons in the administration of George W. Bush, more than half of the text is devoted to six years of his tenure as head of the US military department.
"There were too many steering, which, in my opinion, is the formula for the congress of a truck into a ditch"
Donald Rumsfeld, former US Secretary of Defense
Rumsfeld reflects on the causes and course of military operations in Iraq, and also explains his position on the unfortunate, as many believe, military campaign.
The sharp themes that, in fact, put an end to the cross, in his long political career - the mockery and torture of prisoners in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, as well as accusations of human rights violations against terror suspects, are not ignored in the book , kept at the US base in Guantanamo.
According to the former US defense secretary, he regrets most of all in his life that he did not insist on his resignation after this story became public in April 2004.
Twice after this scandal Rumsfeld filed a resignation petition, but Bush always rejected them.
However, despite the regret in the book, Donald Rumsfeld notes that he does not regret about how the Pentagon as a whole conducted interrogations of detainees in Iraq.
The creation of Guantanamo and military commissions also do not cause the former Minister of Defense any regret or desire to change anything.
He notes that even the Obama administration, despite the presidential promises to close the prison at Guantanamo, did not find any better solution than to leave everything as it was under Bush.
About the style of the Bush administration
George W. Bush is one of the few people whom Rumsfeld responds with respect and warmth. But he also does not forget to point out that Bush's mistake was that he did not take the necessary steps to smooth out the differences between his advisers.
Thus, according to Rumsfeld, the National Security Council headed by the US president was absolutely ineffective due to strained relations between the Pentagon and the State Department.
"Too many were steering, which, in my opinion, is the formula for the congress of a truck into a ditch," Rumsfeld estimates the style of the Bush administration.
Other former colleagues get much more. Colin Powell, the former chief of the Pentagon, blames the fact that he, at his post of secretary of state, was reluctant to accept Bush's political instructions and turned a blind eye to leaks in the press that undermined the authority of the US Department of Defense.
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice, who replaced Powell as secretary of state, Rumsfeld blames that she forced then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to take too democratic steps, which led to his resignation.
He also accuses Rice of putting human rights in Uzbekistan above other, more important US security interests, and that her attempts to achieve diplomatic relations with Syria, Iran and North Korea have not led to anything.
However, the ex-head of the Pentagon acknowledged a number of miscalculations and for himself. In particular, he called erroneous the claim that the US authorities knew the exact location of the allegedly possessed weapons of mass destruction by the Iraqi leader.
In addition, Donald Rumsfeld said that he was wrong when commenting on the looting that began in postwar Iraq, with the words "this happens."
How the war was planned in Iraq
In his book, Rumsfeld denies that the intention to start a war in Iraq arose after the September 11, 2001 attacks, as President Bush wrote in his memoirs.
Rumsfeld remembers that Bush asked him to review the Pentagon's plans for a war with Iraq 15 days before the 2001 terrorist attacks.
From the memoirs of the former head of the Ministry of Defense, it follows that Bush conceived a war with Iraq while his administration was preparing only for a war against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
About drug dependence of their children
There are in his book and more personal memories related to his children.
Rumsfeld writes about how two of his three children - son Nick and daughter Marcy - were trying to get rid of their addiction.
He recalls that in September 2001, 15 days after the attack, he was torn between state affairs and the desire to help his son, who had just entered the hospital for voluntary treatment.
The day before the release of his memoirs, Rumsfeld posted on his website www.rumsfeld.com previously unpublished secret documents, as well as materials from his personal archive.
Political bestseller
A graduate of Princeton University, head of the White House administration, US ambassador to NATO, a pilot and a certified instructor of the Air Force, Rumsfeld became the youngest (43 years) and the oldest (74 years) head of the Pentagon in US history.
Memoirs of Rumsfeld were preceded by George Bush's memoirs "Key decisions" and the autobiography of former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "Unusual ordinary people."
Even before entering the store shelves, Donald Rumsfeld's memoirs were included in the list of 10 bestsellers according to the version of the largest online store Amazon.com.
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