Donald Rumsfeld is a criminal in a well-tailored suit and tie, disguised as a mediocre, semi-organized bureaucrat.

Removed all the ceremonial embroidery, this is the epitaph I immediately thought of when I heard of his death yesterday.

I suspect that this is also how he was remembered by many disaster-stricken people who lived in the remains of the many disaster-stricken areas where he caused such hurt, pain and grief.

And, if the truth is any guide, then anyone must remember him and not be deceived by the series of pleasant lies about who and what Rumsfeld is about to be told now.

In this foreseeable aspect, there will be the usual ebullient eulogy, written by the usual flattering suspects, foreshadowing the outstanding, uncompromising service to a succession of and sometimes submissive presidents and a grateful country life.

The Associated Press described Rumsfeld as “a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of the modern US military” whose reputation was “disintegrated by the long and costly war in Iraq.” “

According to the main flattery of the Associated Press, Rumsfeld apparently lived a rather gentle but fulfilling life-his “skills” and “vision” were, unfortunately, destroyed by a misguided war Up.

The Associated Press did not spray paint Rumsfeld’s dirty career, but shared with readers this slimy episode about the former US Secretary of Defense: “‘Lami’, as he is often called For that, ambitious, resourceful, energetic, fascinating, and capable of bringing great personal enthusiasm.”

My goodness.

These are undeniable moments. When the “establishment” media reaffirmed their qualifications to build a business, when they need to be frank and unrelenting honesty, they write such benevolent and allegedly “subtle” to powerful people with important titles. Respect.

Decent cannot allow to quickly whitewash Rumsfeld’s disgusting legacy because it is a cunning, unrepentant militant, an unapologetic architect of a secret torture chamber, and a state approval called “extradition” Kidnapping racket.

Rumsfeld personified all the familiar, corrosive, and inhuman aspects of the discredited American exceptionalism with a sacred and stubborn enthusiasm, which time and time again transformed into despair and destruction on a scarred planet And death.

In Rumsfeld’s distorted geopolitical calculus, the United States is a benevolent global policeman, and he, a happy soldier in a refreshing suit and tie, envisions a world similar to the fabulous American-made ideals—especially in Democracy and pluralism in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Of course, the ugly, self-evident irony is that one of the defining characteristics of evangelicals like Rumsfeld—just like the president he works for—is the necessary ability, which is actually necessary. , To mutilate and kill on an almost incomprehensible scale in order to realize their so-called charitable design.

Rumsfeld is a helpful official who, with his words and deeds—with his plain, bureaucratic monotony—facilitated the occupation of the Oval Office by the murderer, the so-called commander-in-chief.

From this perspective, Rumsfeld is successful. He ordered others to kill in the comfortable, near-sighted cocoon of the Pentagon—safe as always, free from any real risks or responsibilities.

Therefore, in the original remnants of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Rumsfeld and his equally dogmatic accomplices seized the opportunity to formulate their deadly and disastrous blueprint for the empire.

The first was the invasion of Afghanistan in September 2001 to overthrow the Taliban and defeat Al Qaeda. History and geography should have honed Rumsfeld’s deep-rooted instincts for war. they do not.

The sad and indelible consequences of Rumsfeld’s stubborn arrogance and strategic stupidity are obvious-countless Afghan innocents and American soldiers have been disfigured and killed, billions of people have spent so much, a patient and revitalized Taliban is ready to rebuild. Established its vicious rule over the wounded people, and landed and invaded the United States twenty years later.

Rumsfeld’s catastrophic adventure in Afghanistan is a precursor to the Bush administration’s catastrophic misjudgment in Iraq.

This is a war of choice, consisting of a huge, fabricated lie — confirmed and refuted by the same agency’s media today — Saddam Hussein not only possessed weapons of mass destruction, but also deliberately, possessed The “crazy” temperament is on the verge of releasing them in London and other places.

Once again, Rumsfeld and the confident company insisted that war would be quick, cheap and desirable. They were warned in advance that there would be no weapons of mass destruction; an invasion would destabilize, rather than “liberate” Iraq and neighboring countries; The cost of life and wealth will be immeasurable.

Rumsfeld laughed at the nervous opponents and cunning people. “I’m not a quagmire,” he once said.

Oh yes, he did it.

Iraq and Iraqis still suffer from Rumsfeld’s trademark conceit, cruelty, and ignorance trauma-in mind, body and spirit.

Rumsfeld played an ardent consultant in the secret, lawless infrastructure established by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to monitor and discredit enlightened Americans who opposed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, thereby exacerbating his annoying Of negligence.

Nevertheless, perhaps the most obscene and vivid evidence of Rumsfeld’s internal crime is the international dungeon network organized within and outside Iraq under his command, using pathological and perverted methods and tools against any suspected “enemy of the United States”. “The collaborators were tortured.

Rumsfeld believes that the rule of law and international codes of conduct are weird and out-of-date, because secret thugs in the United States roam around with impunity, kidnapping people like luggage and transporting them to torture dungeons, where they are abused and forgotten.

During all this, Rumsfeld showed a dazzling smile, which immediately showed his angry arrogance and confidence in the correctness of the United States’ mission to save devastating overseas. His notorious and absurd answer to the question about the serious failure of the mission exposed Rumsfeld’s long-term incoherent and fatal vanity.

Rumsfeld probably knew that he would not be responsible for the pain and suffering he caused so many damaged people in so many damaged places.

According to reports, he was able to die at home with his family.

This is the quiet, gentle fate that Donald Drumsfield shouldn’t have, and he rejected many other damaged people in many other damaged places.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.