A decent man, a good man, talks about what went wrong in Iraq, what could go right in Afghanistan and how the Pentagon should change some things.

In my interview with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, he disputes the idea that he was fixated with removing Saddam Hussein in the days after Sept 11. I confront him with the account of Gen. Hugh Shelton, who has a completely different take on the tone and tenor of the debate.

My one mention in Donald Rumsfeld’s new memoir, “Known and Unknown” comes on pg. 454, when Rumsfeld credits my reporting for puncturing the myth of Eric Shinseki. He writes, “It is undoubtedly too late to correct the literally hundreds of misstatements that were repeated in what Jamie McIntyre, the Pentagon reporter for CNN described as a media-generated myth elevated to ‘the level of scripture.’”
Rumsfeld’s account is must reading for anyone who fell for the false narrative that Shinseki spoke “truth to power.” The facts, as I recounted in one this CNN reports, support a less flattering version of history.

Former Defense Secretary picks the best reporters covering the Pentagon, from a May 21, 2001 Snowflake. Did he get it right? Of Tom Ricks of the Washington Post he writes, “… can’t be convinced he is wrong. He receives a lot of e-mails and believes them.”

[Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is posting status updates on his Facebook page about his dog, but has no interest in making a cameo on one of CBS’s hottest shows, “The Good Wife.”   Maybe it’s the subject: waterboarding! — Jamie]
By DAVID BAUDER,
AP Television Writer – Jan. 14, 2011
PASADENA, Calif. – The latest idea for […]

Not to be outdone by Julian Assange, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is “threatening,” or — more accurately — promising to dump hundreds of once-secret government documents onto his web site, to shed new light on his six years as Pentagon chief.

Despite the accolades showered over Umpire Jim Joyce and Pitcher Armando Galarraga for their respective displays of class, generally speaking society as a whole is not very forgiving of mistakes. And in today’s increasingly litigious and often vindictive climate, anyone’s admission of fault could lead to disastrous, expensive, and potentially career-ending consequences.