Rumsfeld: More Than Meets the Eye

David Weigel | November 9, 2006

Most of the commentary on the departing Donald Rumsfeld has taken on the tone of a touchdown dance. Over at Popular Mechanics, Noah Schachtman actually lays out Rumsfeld's vaunted "transformation" of the armed forces and sees if it amounted to anything.

Perhaps the biggest question facing any new successor in the Pentagon isn't about America's forces, but about our enemies. For years, there have been in the Pentagon. One wants to focus on waging the "Long War" against Islamic extremism—spend more on the The other thinks that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are anomalies, even distractions; China is the big threat on the horizon, and America needs new fighter planes and destroyers to counter that threat.

Rumsfeld never really picked between the two factions. He kept up spending for next-gen stealth fighters and got Congress to devote nearly a trillion dollars to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hm. He wasn't extraordinarily good at his job, was he?