Rumsfeld's War - Recap

The episode looks at Donald Rumsfeld, his life, his role in the White House, and his plan for invading Iraq.. The episode shows footage of election of George W. Bush. Lyman tells us there was conflict from the beginning with Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. . We see footage of Powell being appointed as Secretary of State. Thomas Ricks of The Washington Post says everyone will love Powell because of his high approval rating. Lyman points out how there was friction with Cheney and Rumsfeld about Powell. Lyman points out how Rumsfeld already served as Secretary of Defense in the seventies long before.Powell and Cheney had different opinions about politics and both sought to to bring their own people into the Bush administration. Cheney selects many neo conservatives for many high profiled jobs in the White House. Powell chose Richard Armitage as Deputy Secretary of State while Cheney as his Deputy Security of Defense Paul Wolfowitz

Lyman tells us of Rumsfeld’s issue with head of army Eric Shinseki because Shinseki disapproved of his plan for Iraq.. We even hear audio tapes of Richard Nixon’s displeasure with Rumsfeld who had disagreements back when Nixon was in the White House.. We hear of the long relationship with Cheney and Rumself who is the person who introduced Gerald Ford to Dick Cheney. The feud with Powell and Rumsfeld deals with administrations plans for war. Powell wanted an exit strategy for Iraq with sufficient troops. Rumsfeld wanted less troops to go directly to Baghdad and expected it to be a quick victory. Rumself seized military hiring process. He wanted less money to be spent on military weapons and less troops. Rumsfeld wanted war with Iraq after 9/11 while Powell did not.

We are told of the different plans for war from Rumsfeld to CIA to Powell. The CIA proposed a series of covert operations which would differ from Army’s plan for deploying mass scale troops. Lyman tells us the way Rumself takes the head of podium at speeches while Chairman of Joint Chiefs just stands idly by.

Before Iraq, Lyman tells of the covert operations done in Afghanistan for the beginnng of the war on terror. Rumself also wanted suspects and prisoners to be tortured intensely going against the Geneva Conventions. Now moving on the war on Iraq, the show again reiterates how Rumsfeld disapproved of the Pentagon’s war plans. The Pentagon’s war plans was the army war plan which called for mass scale troops, heavy bombardment, and an exit strategy. Since Rumsfeld was not getting the mass approval from people like Shinseki, Rumself hunted other military personnel who would stand by and approve his plan for Iraq. We get an interview with Army colonel Douglas McGregor who approved of Rumsfeld’s plan for fifty thousand troops marching to Baghdad. Four star general Tommy Francks after much delay and disagreement also agrees with Rumsfeld’s plan. Tommy Rich of the Washington Plan says how Franks is called a money boot soldier which is a phrase that is sometimes used to describe an unintelligent soldier.

Although Rumself wanted fifty thousand troops in Iraq, he reaches a compromise with Franks to launch one hundred and fifty thousand troops in Iraq.

The episode now moves to the power control and politics of approving Rumsfeld’s war plan. We learn that Powell had a secret dinner with Bush to talk about the war plan. Bush, however, soon left for vacation while senior officials worked out the war plan. Bob Woodward talks about the growing animosity with Cheney and Powell. Powell gets the approval to send the war to United Stations council. We see footage of Powell addressing the council. Powell as well as most of the administration pitch the belief that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. We also see footage Shinseki being asked to testify and give his opinion about the war plan. Former Secretary of the Army, Thomas White describes how Shinseki was discredited for saying there would a need for mass troops. We see footage of Rumsfeld himself trying to discredit Shinkseki by calling his testimony for mass troops “far from the mark”. Eventually the war is approved according to Rumsfeld’s plan.

The last segments of the program examines the war itself which exposes the failures of Rumself’s plan, the mass looting, the lack of adequate troops to sustain order, the on going violence, and eventual failure of the Bush administration. The highlight of this failure as shown in the program would be Abu Ghraib scandal. Senator Lindsey Graham says the scandal is it i s“what can happens when you play too cute with rules that have stood the tests of time” .

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