It's the obligation of each U.S. secretary of defense
to make a speech when the portrait of his predecessor is unveiled in the halls
of the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Robert
Gates's speech
Friday, delivered while standing next to former Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was full of not-so-subtle indications about how
Gates views Rumsfeld's stewardship of the Defense Department.
Gates hardly mentioned at all the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan that Rumsfeld planned and executed and that took up the vast
majority of his time and attention until Gates was brought in to fix them. Gates
also made several references to Rumsfeld's famously combative personality, while
trying to speak favorably about his predecessor's efforts to modernize the
military.
After briefly mentioning "the rapid removal of two
odious regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq" when talking about the aftermath of
9/11, Gates only referred to the wars in Afghanistan one more time, giving
Rumsfeld guarded praise for making the military more expeditionary in nature.
Even in that reference, Gates was touting the
success of the surge in Iraq that took place only after Rumsfeld resigned in
November 2006.
"Without these institutional changes set in motion
by Secretary Rumsfeld, we would not have been able to surge five army brigades
into Iraq on short notice, or have the quality and quantity of UAVs that have
made such a difference on the battlefield," he said, referring to unmanned
aerial vehicles.
Rumsfeld reportedly opposed the surge.
The speech included no mention of the handling of
the first four years of the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. Nor did Gates note
that Rumsfeld's drive to modernize the military was based on using technology rather
than more people, a policy Gates has in many ways reversed by growing the
ground force by tens of thousands of soldiers and marines.
Gates did praise the Navy's Fleet Response Plan, which was updated under
Rumsfeld, the building up of the Special Operations forces, and Rumsfeld's
efforts to update the organizational structure of U.S. forces in Germany, Korea,
and Japan.
Gates also praised the front office staff that
Rumsfeld left behind in his personal office. Those staffers might remember what
Gates referred to as Rumsfeld's "own unique and bracing style of personal
management," which including dropping "snowflakes" all over the Pentagon.
Snowflakes were the often very short memos or questions Rumsfeld would send down
from up on high, landing on people's desks all day long.
"Self described as ‘genetically impatient,' he did
not brook much nonsense or suffer fools gladly," Gates said, referring to
Rumsfeld's treatment of the briefers who faced him each day.
But Gates revealed that there was a way to ensure
Rumsfeld would be nicer: bring his wife Joyce along.
"I'm told that the secretary's staff always looked
forward to Joyce's presence on trips as that assured a happier -- and thus less
demanding -- boss."
UPDATE: Rumsfeld's spokesman Keith Urbahn writes in to argue that Gate's comments were completely supportive and praising of Rumsfeld.
"Secretary Gates' remarks were unfailingly courteous in tone and substance -- in fact so much so
that both SecDefs displayed more than a little emotion during the
speech," he said, calling Gates' remarks
"a plainly gracious and graceful tribute to the man who preceded him in office."
Don Rumsfeld could have had a successful career as DOD chief had he followed through with "transforming" the DOD acquisition process. He didn't. Instead, he wrecked the Army and trashed its general officers, caused thousands of deaths in the Middle East, and oversaw a process that doubled the US military budget to where we now outspend the total of nearly every country in the world in armaments.
Yes, what a shock that anyone could damn Rumsfeld with faint praise. Who would have deserved it more? Maybe we can have Doug Feith and Paul Wolfowitz in for a special honor or dedication next. How about a "Where are the WMDs?" panel where we commend those three patriots for their dogged efforts to dig nonexistent chem-bio weapons out of Iraq.
Josh Rogin reports on national security and foreign policy from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The Cable.
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