Tom Ricks's Inbox

more generally, though, to characterize the regular interactions between two serious people dealing with serious issues as you did is, to be frank, beneath someone who has operated at the level you have operated.

rumsfeld had a job to do as secretary of defense, and i'm quite aware you may believe you would have done it differently if you were doing the job. but he did his job as best he could to support the president's and the nation's objectives, and he did it with considerable effect.

although he was the least parochial leader i ever served, he also was always mindful that, at times, his actions or actions of others at DoD butted up against the institutional views/priorities of other departments. still, at the level he, condi, colin powell, tenet, and the others operated, they accepted that sometimes there are bound to be those kinds of conflicts and they worked through them in a respectful and responsible fashion. . . .

rumsfeld is an honorable patriot and deserves better and, whether you accept that or not, you do yourself a disservice by resorting to name calling to characterize your disagreements with his views.

finally: about a year ago i had an email exchange with [military affairs reporter] joe galloway that i -- stupidly, it turns out -- assumed was a discussion between two people. joe was playing for the galleries, though, and released our exchange through various blogs. i had no problem with anything i said, but thought it was pretty unsporting of joe to have done what he did. i mention only because i do not intend to distribute this email, or any response you may care to offer, and i suppose i should have stipulated that with galloway, too!

best . . . larry di rita

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From: BARRY MCCAFFREY

Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 5:29 PM

Subject: Fw: your recent comments on rumsfeld

Larry . . .

Appreciate your admirable loyalty to Mr Rumsfeld. However, I see him as a huge failure as the Secretary of Defense. A patriotic, dedicated, intelligent, charismatic man of great experience -- with a crippling sense of arrogance and hobbled by terrible instincts. In large part, because of his mistaken decisions and micro-management of the tactical aspects of this war -- we are now stuck in a mess with 29,000 US troops killed and wounded . . . with $400 billion wasted . . . and no good way out.