Rumsfeld Dodged Early Iraq Failures: Sanchez

Forces were undermanned, and planning was shoddy

(NEWSER) - The US missed out on chances to stabilize Afghanistan early in the war because it devoted too few troops and too little planning to the conflict, write Army historians in an official chronicle of the conflict. "It should have become clear” in late 2003 “that the coalition presence in Afghanistan did not provide enough resources,” says the history, a copy of which was obtained by the New York Times . The newspaper points out that 800-soldier battalions were trying to maintain order in areas the size of Vermont. More»

Rumsfeld had pledged in 2004 to compensate the abused

(AP) - In 2004, a defensive Donald Rumsfeld told Congress that he had found a legal way to compensate Iraqi detainees who suffered "grievous and brutal abuse and cruelty at the hands of a few members of the United States armed forces." He continued, "It's the right thing to do. And it is my intention to see that we do." But six years later, the US Army is unable to document a single payment for prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. More»

(NEWSER) - Lynndie England is trying to rebuild some semblance of a normal life, but her past continues to haunt her, she tells the AP. “It’s my face that's always recognized,” the former Army Reservist and poster child for Abu Ghraib abuse said of trying to get a job—or even just going to the store. “I can't really change that.” England has been unemployed since she got out of prison. “I sit at home all day.” More»

GQ writer, anonymous sources better suited to gossip beat, he says

(NEWSER) - Donald Rumsfeld didn't decorate the president’s World Intelligence Update cover slides with biblical quotes, a spokesman says, and GQ reporter Robert Draper should've known better than to use anonymous sources "with an axe to grind." The slides, the spokesman says in an email to Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic, were prepared by military personnel on the Joint Chiefs, not the Defense secretary. More»

Former Pentagon chief undermined president, former aides say

(NEWSER) - Donald Rumsfeld isn’t a preacher, but nearly every morning after the Iraq invasion, he handed President Bush a national security digest containing Biblical quotations intended to influence his decisions. This tactic, Robert Draper writes for GQ in a lengthy look at Rummy's standing among administration contemporaries, epitomizes the former Pentagon secretary—a manipulative, imperious bully who would do anything to get his way, including vexing US troops. More»