| Nominee: | Donald Rumsfeld |
| Born: | 1932 in Chicago, Illinois |
| Education: | Princeton |
| Occupation: | Pilot, Corporate Executive, Political Hack. Currently the U.S. Secretary of Defense. |
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Donald Rumsfeld has one key difference that separates him from classic movie villains. Unlike them, he's actually responsible for thousands of deaths.
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When the Iran-Iraq war started in 1980 the U.S. was content to stand on the sidelines and let the two countries (both of which were considered "terrorist" states) bleed each other dry.
But by 1982, Iranian troops had advanced to within a few miles of Basra. According to Howard Teicher, who served on the National Security Council at the time, "Realpolitik dictated that we act to prevent the situation from getting worse." The Reagan Administration started providing intelligence to the Iraqis about Iranian troop movements.
By November of 1983, the Reagan Administration adopted National Security Decision Directive 114 (NSDD 114), which stated that the U.S. would do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran. At least that's what we think it says - it remains a classified document 20 years later. What is not classified is that at the same time that NSDD 114 was adopted it was widely reported that Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons "on a daily basis".
Enter Donald Rumsfeld. Less than a month after the adoption of NSDD 114, the Reagan Administration sent Rumsfeld, as a "special presidential envoy", on several trips to Iraq.
After Rumsfeld's visits with Saddam Hussein, Iraq was removed from the State Department's list of "State Sponsors of Terrorism" and full diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iraq were restored. According to declassified notes from the State Department, Rumsfeld never mentioned chemical weapons, or any other "weapons of mass destruction" during his meetings with Saddam. To be fair, those notes do indicate that Rumsfeld once mentioned the use of chemical weapons, in passing, to Tariq Aziz.
So, twenty years ago the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction and they were busily using them and the United States was improving its relationship with Iraq - while 20 years later we invade Iraq on the pretext of their possession of weapons of mass destruction - but now we can't find any! But everyone knows this already, right?
All during the time that Rumsfeld was helping to strengthen the Reagan Administration's relations with Saddam Hussein, he continued on at G.D. Searle and Co., a multinational pharmaceutical company. Rumsfeld, it turns out, doesn't need no stinking "revolving door".
During much of Rumsfeld's career he has simultaneously worked in "private business" and held "public service posts". During his 8 years at Searle, Rumsfeld held at least four other posts in the Reagan Administration in addition to being the "special envoy" to Saddam Hussein.
After leaving Searle in 1985 he continued on in private business until 1990 - and during that time held four different posts in the Reagan and Bush Administrations. Then from 1990 to 1993 he was CEO of General Instruments Corp, purveyors of set-top cable TV converters. A few years later, Rummy was in charge of one of the most spectacularly unsuccessful political campaigns of all times: Bob Dole's pathetic 1996 presidential bid.
After helping Bob Dole end his political career with a resounding thud, Rummy went on to chair a congressional committee set up to assess the ballistic missile threat to the United States. The commission's 1998 report concluded that the time was right to reactivate Ronald Reagan's famous "Star Wars" boondoggle.
In addition to the militarization of space, Rumsfeld's other pet projects include "Project for A New American Century" - those whacky proponents of "a series of multiple, simultaneous major theater wars." Rumsfeld also served as Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford.
The Golden Jackboot™ Award is a Goering-Goebells Production, a
subsidiary of Reichstag Enterprises (otherwise known as the DC Anti-War
network). |
THE NOMINEES
Learn more about the nominees by
following the links to their bios.
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VOTE NOW
Voting ends Tuesday, July 8, 2003.
The winner shall be announced Tuesday
at Bossa Bistro and Lounge,
2463 18th St NW, 7 to 10 PM!
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