Anyone who pays attention to politics, lived through the George W. Bush presidency (that was stolen in 2000) and survived to tell about it should sit down with Errol Morris' latest documentary, The Unknown Known. The subject: Donald Rumsfeld.
It should be known that Rumsfeld is quite charismatic, holds his own, and, even to this day, does not shy away from the decisions he helped shape in the months and years after 9/11. There is a coolness to Rumsfeld that led me to believe that he is not just a man repeating party lines or "just another politician" rather he believes what he says, believes so badly that you almost get swept up in his genial bullshit. It is not just that the man is a lifelong politician, it's that by watching the many press conferences he has given in his political career it is easy to see his confidence that borders along hubristic arrogance, is a very extension of his center of gravity. The man does not pause, he does not stutter, he is cool and confident in everything he says, this documentary shows that he was more than just Bush (or, realistically, Cheney's) bag man at the DOD, he was, and is, a true believer. We are given very little in this documentary about the Bush cabinet in-fighting between him and NSA Rice, but it is glimpsed at and you can see that Rumsfeld was not one to bow to anyone he felt was outside of the chain of command. Something that permeates from his very posture and smirks as he narrates his views on torture (or, what is not torture).
He is classically and absurdly human, but he does not give in to the Morris queries on if the Iraq quagmire was worth it, Rumsfeld with very little hesitation (almost as if he were shocked this this question is repeated so much in the post-Iraq invasion) replies, "I guess time will tell." (Which the view should juxtapose this with his report about the Middle East from his late '80's trips on behalf of President Reagan where he recommended the U.S. stay out of the Middle East.) There is no remorse, no contemplation now that he is a man of leisure, there is just the arrogance that history, in the future, will be on his side.
One of the most telling throw away lines in the documentary is when Rumsfeld states that years after Bush has left office, and after the campaigns of Obama on being anti-GITMO, anti-Patriot Act, anti-surveillance, Obama has done nothing to dismantle these things and in Rumsfeld's mind, these provide him with the necessary proof that the policies he helped create were the right ones. Chilling.
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