Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time secretary of defense and former presidential candidate whose reputation as a seasoned bureaucrat and visionary of a modern US military was shattered by the long and costly Iraq war, died Tuesday. He was 88.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rumsfeld’s family said he was “surrounded by his family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico.”
President George W. Bush, under whom Rumsfeld served as Pentagon chief, praised his “continued service as Secretary of Defense in wartime – a duty he performed with strength, skill and honor.”
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Regarded by previous colleagues as equally clever and combative, patriotic and politically cunning, Rumsfeld had a fabled career in government under four presidents and almost a quarter of a century in the American corporation.
After retiring in 2008, he led the Rumsfeld Foundation to advance public service and partner with charities that provide service and assistance to military families and wounded veterans.
“Rummy”, as he was often called, was ambitious, funny, energetic, engaging and capable of great personal warmth. But he irritated many with his confrontational style. Rumsfeld, an accomplished wrestler in college, enjoyed verbal sparring and made it an art form; acrid humor was a popular weapon.
Still, he built a network of loyalists who admired his work ethic, intelligence, and impatience with those who did not share his sense of urgency.
Rumsfeld is the only person who has served as Pentagon chief twice. The first time, 1975-77, he was the youngest ever. Next time, 2001-06, he was the oldest.
He made a quick run for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, a spectacular flop he once described as humiliating for a man accustomed to success at the highest levels of government, including posts as White House chief of staff, US ambassador and Member of the Congress.
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For all of Rumsfeld’s accomplishments, it was the setbacks in Iraq at the dawn of his career that are likely to shape the most vivid features of his legacy.
Nine months after his second tour as Secretary of Defense, on September 11, 2001, suicide bombers attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, plunging the nation into wars for which the military was ill-prepared. Rumsfeld oversaw the US invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban regime. Rumsfeld, who led frequently televised briefings about the war, became something of a television star who applauded for his outspoken words and uncompromising style.
In 2002 the Bush administration’s attention shifted to Iraq, which played no part in the 9/11 attacks. The war effort in Afghanistan stepped back behind Iraq, opening the way for the Taliban to make a comeback and preventing the US from sealing the success of its first invasion.
The US-led invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. Baghdad fell quickly, but the US and allied forces were soon caught in a violent uprising. Critics accused Rumsfeld of having rejected the Army’s top general, Eric Shinseki, before the invasion that several hundred thousand Allied troops would be needed to stabilize Iraq.
Rumsfeld twice offered to resign to Bush in 2004 when it became known that US troops had abused inmates in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison – an episode he later described as his darkest hour as Secretary of Defense.
It wasn’t until November 2006, after the Democrats took control of Congress through a wave of antiwar sentiment, that Bush finally decided that Rumsfeld had to leave. He left office in December and was replaced by Robert Gates.
Rumsfeld leaves behind his wife Joyce, three children and seven grandchildren.
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