Robert D. Kaplan tries his hand at a video documentary in this piece in the Atlantic on Donald Rumsfeld. Embedding in this post not possible, so check it out here.
Of course, the video is for your online enjoyment—in the hard copy of the magazine is Kaplan’s piece on Rumsfeld’s legacy, and which reads kinder that the video above:
“Parts of the world were unassigned when Rumsfeld came into office; he assigned them. He created Northern Command for the defense of the continental United States and put Canada and Mexico inside it. He assigned Russia to European Command and Antarctica to Pacific Command. Out of part of European Command, which was responsible for much of Africa, he created Africa Command—a potentially pathbreaking bureaucratic instrument that incorporates other agencies like the State Department and emphasizes bilateral training programs and indirect, humanitarian-affairs-oriented approaches over combat. As obvious as all these choices seem, they weren’t when Rumsfeld made them.”
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COMMENTS / 4 COMMENTS
lirelou added these pithy words on 09 Jul 08 at 5:28 pmIn short, he created more burocracies.
TGGP added these pithy words on 09 Jul 08 at 9:02 pmDaniel Koffler follows Larison in ridiculing Kaplan here.
Alfred Russel Wallace added these pithy words on 12 Jul 08 at 1:45 amThere is a humour in the notion that Rumsfeld, or anyone else for that matter, can “assign them”. It reminds me of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – lets ‘administer’ the atmosphere…. talk about hubris
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