The Rumsfeld Doctrine

Excuse the colorful colloquialism, but ex-SecDef Donald Rumsfeld thinks President Obama has it ass-backwards on Libya. He thinks Obama has allowed the coalition to determine the mission, which, as seen through his rose-colored glasses, has led to abject confusion. "THE MISSION should determine the coalition," he said on CNN's "John King USA." And he thinks THE MISSION should be regime change (i.e., eliminating Qaddafi with extreme prejudice). Call it the Rumsfeld Doctrine. He cited Iraq, of all places, as the epitome of THE MISSION done right. No, Rummy wasn't high on crack (presumably) as he made that remark. He’s utterly convinced that Team Bush added a sterling new page to Sun Tzu’s classic “The Art of War.” We know how Rummy's "Charge of the Light Brigade" into Iraq turned out. After Bush gave him the boot, it took the genius of Gen. David Petraeus - today's Ulysses S. Grant - to pull our chestnuts out the fire. As for Libya, it never occurs to Rummy that if THE MISSION was solely to forcibly remove Qaddafi, there would be no coalition -- or a UN mandate. Therefore, under the Rumsfeld doctrine, that would leave us with the unilateral "Charge of the Light Brigade" option -- but this time we'd plunge headlong into the Libyan sandbox. Bugler, sound the charge! To borrow a favorite Rumsfeld-ism, "oh my goodness gracious!" The mind reels.