Libertarian_Guard
3rd February 2011, 02:25 PM
Former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld remains largely defiant about the Iraq war, saying in a new book that had Saddam Hussein remained in power, the Middle East would be "far more perilous than it is today".
Mr Rumsfeld, 78, has written an autobiography due out next week.
He concedes he could have sent more troops, and that internal US rivalries hampered post-war reconstruction.
Leaked excerpts have been published by the Washington Post and New York Times.
On the question of troops, he says in the 800-page Known and Unknown: "In retrospect, there may have been times when more troops could have helped."
But he says that if senior military officers had reservations about the size of the invading force, they did not inform him.
And as the conflict continued, US commanders, even when asked repeatedly for their views, did not ask him for more troops or disagree with the strategy, he adds.
Conflicting account
Mr Rumsfeld also reveals that President Bush asked him to review the Pentagon's war plans for Iraq just 15 days after the 11 September attacks, an account that appears to conflict with Mr Bush's own version of events.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12356357
Mr Rumsfeld, 78, has written an autobiography due out next week.
He concedes he could have sent more troops, and that internal US rivalries hampered post-war reconstruction.
Leaked excerpts have been published by the Washington Post and New York Times.
On the question of troops, he says in the 800-page Known and Unknown: "In retrospect, there may have been times when more troops could have helped."
But he says that if senior military officers had reservations about the size of the invading force, they did not inform him.
And as the conflict continued, US commanders, even when asked repeatedly for their views, did not ask him for more troops or disagree with the strategy, he adds.
Conflicting account
Mr Rumsfeld also reveals that President Bush asked him to review the Pentagon's war plans for Iraq just 15 days after the 11 September attacks, an account that appears to conflict with Mr Bush's own version of events.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12356357