nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
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"In July 2004, as the Iraq War spiraled out of control, Donald Rumsfeld ordered a staffer to draw up a "What Did Not Happen?" memo -- a list of potential bad outcomes that had been avoided -- to make himself feel better. Things could be worse, right?
Then they started happening. The "What Did Not Happen?" memo -- which Gawker obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, along with thousands of pages of other documents from Rumsfeld's tenure -- is practically a parody of Rumsfeld's truculent blindness to his own failures. In a bid to justify the wisdom of his Iraqi misadventure, he commissioned a list of pitfalls he had avoided at the very moment that they were happening all around him.
In 2009, Rumsfeld asked the Defense Department for a declassified copy of that memo, along with thousands of pages of other records from his tenure, to help prepare for his memoir. In a bid to appear transparent and open and willing to back up his memories with evidence, Rumsfeld has posted thousands of those documents to his online "Rumsfeld Papers." And to his credit, he has posted some documents that don't reflect well on him.
But he's also kept hundred of documents secret, and we used the FOIA to find them--we got everything that the Pentagon handed over to Rumsfeld, so we know what what he got and can see what he declined to publish. "
"In July 2004, as the Iraq War spiraled out of control, Donald Rumsfeld ordered a staffer to draw up a "What Did Not Happen?" memo -- a list of potential bad outcomes that had been avoided -- to make himself feel better. Things could be worse, right?
Then they started happening. The "What Did Not Happen?" memo -- which Gawker obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, along with thousands of pages of other documents from Rumsfeld's tenure -- is practically a parody of Rumsfeld's truculent blindness to his own failures. In a bid to justify the wisdom of his Iraqi misadventure, he commissioned a list of pitfalls he had avoided at the very moment that they were happening all around him.
In 2009, Rumsfeld asked the Defense Department for a declassified copy of that memo, along with thousands of pages of other records from his tenure, to help prepare for his memoir. In a bid to appear transparent and open and willing to back up his memories with evidence, Rumsfeld has posted thousands of those documents to his online "Rumsfeld Papers." And to his credit, he has posted some documents that don't reflect well on him.
But he's also kept hundred of documents secret, and we used the FOIA to find them--we got everything that the Pentagon handed over to Rumsfeld, so we know what what he got and can see what he declined to publish. "
