All captions come from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s notorious leadership tract of January 29, 2001, “Rumsfeld’s Rules: Advice on government, business and life,” which appeared in the Wall Street Journal when Rumsfeld initially took office three years ago.
As you’re surely well aware by now, some of the Iraqi prison torture images from Abu Ghraib are rather, well, foul, so the captioning continues below…
“Enjoy your time in public service. It may well be one of the most interesting and challenging times of your life.”
“It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.”
“Don’t ‘overcontrol’ like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe, calibrate and refine.”
“Amid all the clutter, beyond all the obstacles, aside from all the static, are the goals set. Put your head down, do the best job possible, let the flak pass, and work toward those goals.”
“Let your family, staff and friends know that you’re still the same person, despite all the publicity and notoriety that accompanies your position.”
“From where you sit, the White House may look as untidy as the inside of a stomach. As is said of the legislative process, sausage making and policy making shouldn’t be seen close-up. Don’t let that panic you. Things may be going better than they look from the inside.”
“Keep your sense of humor. As Gen. Joe Stillwell said, ‘The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind.'”
Oh, and in closing, bearing in mind these photos are several months old:
“If you foul up, tell the president and correct it fast. Delay only compounds mistakes.”
(Original link to “Rumsfeld’s Rules” by way of Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo, with photographs taken from both the New Yorker and the Washington Post.)
CONTINUED: Rumsfeld’s Rules: Donald’s Photoblog, Vol. 2
11 replies on “Rumsfeld’s Rules: Donald’s Photoblog”
Also please note that May is National Military Appreciation Month: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2004/n04302004_200404304.html
Perhaps if Rummy showed more appreciation and affection toward the troops they wouldn’t “act out” for attention.
Also, don’t forget the best one:
Be able to resign.
Some pitiful bastard was interviewed this morning and he was trying to defend his son Chip Frederick who is going on trial for Iraqi abuse. (freechipfrederick.com)
Can you imagine how these working class enlistees would deal with normal society after touching the dark side of torture/abuse? Would they sick the dog on grandma for having the volume up too high? Would the kids be grounded for three months naked in the basement?
This is the finest military force in the world. One kid had a soundbite interview on CNN and said; “I’m glad to be here, I’m ready to kick in some doors and shoot some people.”
Where’d he learn that?
The shock and awe is that the West (US) denies that it does such things. Denial. Humanity is often mean spirited.
In that interview chip frederick’s father said the guards used those photos to torment other prisoners apparently in lieu of torturing everyone.
I also heard (arguable/questionable) that those who were abused/tortured were the most dangerous of the captured who were relegated to a seperate building of the prison.
The baathists could be like good nazis, they knew, the didn’t like it, they didn’t participate but they benefitted from being hussein baathists.
I have to assume that the baathists are like cornered rats because everyone else, 60-70%?, have an axe to grind with them.
The baathists would also be fomenting the attacks against the coalition everyday for over a year.
Still the average Iraqi has been tormented, 10,000x as much by the saddam baathists as the orwellian psyops propagated in the U.S.
A living hell I tell you for the average iraqi and for decades…
How about how the American detainees, kidnapped and mistreated? The Muslim radicals in the Middle East are absolute savages – and deserve to be treated as such.
There is no such thing as civility against these killers. It’s time to have a spine and support your country and your president. Otherwise, you can forgo the freedom you have here and move elsewhere.
Freedom? You must be joking. This has nothing to do with freedom. It has everything to do with making money and staying in power. And it’s not power or money for you and I but for the Bush’s, the Cheneys, the Rices, et al.
In the 1930’s, this president’s Granddads made their fortunes investing in a nation that was rebuilding itself at a lightning pace. It was a good time to invest and they did so, mostly in banking, chemicals, arms and steel. That country was Nazi Germany. Prescott Bush was targeted by the Trading With the Enemy Act but was saved by ‘friends in high places’ who argued that he could help the government with intelligence. Apparently he did help. So much that he remained out of jail and made huge sums of more money when he invested in the rebuilding of war torn Germany.
Let’s see: use the money and power of friends and family to put someone in power in a foreign government. The qualities of said leader are need not match what we would want in our own leaders. They just have to toe the line. Then watch the investment pay off. If you’re into ships, steel and/or banking, Germany might be a good place to start. Or if you’re into oil, maybe Iraq. If things get out of hand and war is inevitable, all the better. You get to kill all of the witnesses and business booms.
This has been a Bush Family Recipe for years. Why not? It’s been working pretty good. Look it up.
This is a dangerous time to be an American. History will not be kind to Mr. Bush. But it might forgive all of us if we do the right thing and fix this mess. Scandals are great ways to judge the strength of a nation. Due to human nature, you cannot avoid scandal and a nation should not be judged based on the scandals of a few persons or even of many in such a large society. But rather this nation will be judged in how we handle this mess and how we move forward.
Why is everyone so excited?
What was done in Iraq/Afghanistan by the Americans is the REAL AMERICA? Just look at our foster homes and nursing homes. Child abuse by the marvelous nuclear families is raging.
Read about Sheriff Arpaio of Phoenix, AZ where “detainees” are made to wear pink underwear.
Every one of these scandalous soldiers will slither out of all of these charges. Nothing has been done since last December except an exchange of Generals.
I hate to say this, but for almost anyone who ever pledged a fraternity, none of the recent images should seem terribly fightening.
I heard on cable today that the humiliation techniques worked so well at Guantanamo Bay that the affirmative nod was given to use the same in Iraq. The item implied Rummy gave the okay.
Having said that, WHO THE FUCK CARES!?! We’re all aware of the humanity in Berg’s publicized murder.
Ain’t no fair war. What is War???
We all love a Cinderella story, like that horse Smarty Jones, it’s rare I tell ya.
The latest I’ve read, probably from The New Yorker and Seymour Hersh, is that the anti-sexual anti-female mentality of Afghan Muslim/Taliban was used to gain info from them with humiliation/torture by Special Ops. They had success.
The idea was used again in Iraq with success but not enough success to turn the tide of violent unrest. Finally the breach occured when roundups which included non-militia civilians were carelessly exposed to the same treatment.
I hope this hole isn’t as deep as it appears.