Rumsfeld reflected upon World War II, which, as a boy, he remembers as a
time when the entire country got behind the effort. To critics, who have
called for more troops in Iraq, he says, "(Such people) are often thinking
World War II and the (former Defense Secretary Caspar) Weinberger Doctrine,
which is valid in a conflict between armies, navies and air forces. The
problem with it, in the context of a struggle against extremists, is that
the greater your presence, the more it plays into extremist lies that you're
there to take their oil, to occupy their nation, stay and not leave; that
you're against Islam, as opposed to being against violent extremists."
His greatest concern is that the public is not sufficiently prepared
mentally for another domestic terror attack. He says there are "two centers
of gravity. One is in Iraq and the region; the other is here." The "here" to
him centers on the way the media report the story and focus mainly on
opposition to administration policies and not on the objectives of the
enemy, who he describes this way: "They're deadly. They're not going to
surrender. They're going to have to be captured or killed. They're going to
have to be dissuaded (and) people are going to have to be dissuaded from
supporting them, from financing them and assisting in their recruitment,
providing havens for them."
"We're in an environment where we have to fight and win a war where the
enemy is in countries we are not at war with," he says. "That is a very
complicated thing to do. It doesn't happen fast. It means you have to invest
the time, effort and ability."
Rumsfeld seems to agree with the Iraq Study Group's conclusion that Iraqis
and their government must ultimately run their own country. He likens it to
an adult holding a child's bicycle seat for fear the child will fall: "You
know if you don't (eventually) let go, you'll end up with a 40-year-old who
can't ride a bike. Now that's not a happy prospect."
He'll consider writing a book about his experiences over many years in
Washington and adds this about today's volunteer military: "when the
uniform personnel look back five, 10, 15 years from now, they're going to
know they've given these folks an opportunity to succeed in an environment
that is not a repressive political system, but a free political system."
That legacy has yet to be determined. As with the Cold War, the end won't
come on the watch of those presidents and defense secretaries who fought it.
Donald Rumsfeld, a cold and hot warrior, understands the enemy. His
principled stand against them will be proved right.