Rumsfeld to Obama: Hey, Wars Have Consequences

Glass houses, alert: Donald Rumsfeld thinks the US intervention in Libya—or at least the way President Obama is going about it—is misguided. The former defense chief tells Politico that President Obama has presented a muddled set of goals, resulting in an unclear mission. The problem involves the international coalition, he said. "You decide what it is you want to do and then you get other countries to assist you in doing that. And, in this case, it looks like just the opposite was done, that the coalition is trying to determine the mission and it’s confused."

Rumsfeld cautioned about the consequences: “One has to make sure that whatever you do in Libya is done with an awareness that it’s going to have an effect—either a favorable or an unfavorable—effect in Egypt and in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.” (More Libya stories.)