Unfiltered Rummy

The Washington Post has a very interesting story out, headlined From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld . . .

The ex-Defense Secretary's words are almost surreal at times; I can't speak to how representative the quotes are, but they definitely ring true to me, based on Rumsfeld's public persona.

It's almost like he enjoyed being weird and different; there's a self-indulgent academic side to Rumsfeld that I always felt was wrong for his post, no matter how interesting he was.

Someone making literally life and death decisions really shouldn't be coming across as puckish, nor should he be out there relishing his sparring sessions with the press.

The article is a good example of classic reporting--the Post got access to previously-unavailable information, that they then use to more fully explain important past events--even though it's written in an almost casual, blog-like manner.

In a series of internal musings and memos to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and wrote of the need to "keep elevating the threat," "link Iraq to Iran" and develop "bumper sticker statements" to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war.

The memos, often referred to as "snowflakes," shed light on Rumsfeld's brusque management style and on his efforts to address key challenges during his tenure as Pentagon chief. Spanning from 2002 to shortly after his resignation following the 2006 congressional elections, a sampling of his trademark missives obtained yesterday reveals a defense secretary disdainful of media criticism and driven to reshape public opinion of the Iraq war.

Rumsfeld, whose sometimes abrasive approach often alienated other Cabinet members and White House staff members, produced 20 to 60 snowflakes a day and regularly poured out his thoughts in writing as the basis for developing policy, aides said. The memos are not classified but are marked "for official use only."

There is also this, something which I wish more papers would do:

Rumsfeld declined to comment, but an aide said the points in that memo were Rumsfeld's distillation of the analysts' comments, though he added that the secretary is known for using the term "bumper stickers."

"You are running a story based off of selective quotations and gross mischaracterizations from a handful of memos -- carefully picked from the some 20,000 written while Rumsfeld served as Secretary," Rumsfeld aide Keith Urbahn wrote in an e-mail. "After almost all meetings, he dictated his recollections of what was said for his own records."