Speaking Ill of the Dead: A Moral Necessity
From left, Colin Powell, George W. Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld at a Cabinet meeting following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Archives.
The recent deaths of former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were accompanied by several outpourings of condolences from politicians and government officials, both Republican and Democrat. Former President George W. Bush lauded Rumsfeld, 88, as “a man of intelligence, integrity, and almost inexhaustible energy.” Powell received similar praise from President Joe Biden, who described him as “a patriot of unmatched honor and dignity” and “one of our great Americans.” Other colleagues and elected officials echoed these sentiments, lamenting the loss of two American political titans. These tributes may lead readers to believe that Powell and Rumsfeld were both blemish-free, and were dedicated public servants with distinguished careers. However, a closer look at the careers of both men paints a very different picture.
Former Secretary Rumsfeld, in particular, is incredibly undeserving of posthumous praise or glorification. Notorious for being a war hawk, Rumsfeld was a key architect of Bush-era foreign policy following the events of September 11, 2001. As secretary of defense under President Gerald Ford and President George W. Bush, Rumsfeld consistently advocated for increased military power, championing budgetary increases and investments in more advanced weapon systems. Immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Rumsfeld capitalized on the public’s fear and confusion to push for military involvement in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq. Rumsfeld was unconcerned with the truth, spinning facts to push his agenda and ruthlessly maneuvering within the federal bureaucracy to defeat his political opponents.
The end of Rumsfeld’s political career was marked by accusations of encouraging the use of torture on prisoners. Rumsfeld advocated for the Bush administration’s use of enhanced “interrogation techniques” and authorized the use of methods such as sleep deprivation, waterboarding, forced nudity, and unnecessary medical procedures. Following these revelations and amidst the growing unpopularity of the Iraq War, Rumsfeld resigned in November 2006, and was given an armed forces full honor review complete with a 19-gun salute. That a man who played such an instrumental role in crafting one of America’s costliest wars would receive a send-off second only to that given to presidents and foreign heads of state is morally reprehensible and sets a terrible precedent for future officials. Rumsfeld never admitted that he made mistakes, defending his policy decisions, and shifting blame for the rest of his life.
Powell, on the other hand, presents a more complicated case. He spent most of his career without a single blemish on his record. In fact, in many ways, Powell was the ideal public servant. The child of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who rose through the ranks of the Army to become the first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first African American Secretary of State. He was, in many ways, the model of the modern American military commander and broke countless barriers throughout his decades of public service. By Election Day in 1996, Powell was so popular with the American public that exit polls showed that 50 percent of respondents said they would have voted for him over newly re-elected President Bill Clinton (who had won with 379 electoral votes). If these results had occurred in reality, Clinton would have been defeated by over 10 points had Powell been the Republican nominee instead of Kansas senator Bob Dole.
During his tenure as Secretary of State, Powell was a moderate voice who advocated for diplomacy over military intervention, playing a key role in America’s rapid, relatively bloodless intervention in the Gulf War and negotiating nuclear treaties with the Soviet Union. Not afraid to break ranks with his party, Powell endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hilary Clinton in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020. In the final major political act of his life, Powell left the Republican Party following the January 6 attacks on the Capitol Building. If the public were to listen to the statements from Powell’s contemporaries, they might think that the highlights of Powell’s career are limited to that list.
Unfortunately, Powell’s legacy is marred by his service as Secretary of State in the Bush administration. On February 5, 2003, Powell gave a speech to the United Nations arguing that Iraq held ties to terrorist groups, that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and that military action had to be taken in order to remedy these issues. Investigations have since proven that Iraq had no chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, nor was there any real connection between Iraq and terrorist groups. These claims were based on false information and forged documents. The Bush administration chose Powell, due to his credibility in the eyes of the public, to deliver the address in front of the UN. Powell at first expressed hesitation, but he then acquiesced and delivered the speech, lending his claims the credibility needed to convince the public of the moral necessity of military action. Powell knew that there were major flaws with the information he was tasked with presenting and made a choice to believe the CIA’s analysis rather than the State Department’s reporting which cast significant doubt on the veracity of the evidence. Later in life, Powell expressed regret about giving his speech, saying “It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now.” However, this sentiment is not enough.
Powell’s lies laid the foundation for Rumsfeld’s development of torture techniques, for the rise of terrorist groups, for the destablization of entire countries, and for the deaths of countless men, women, and children, both American and Iraqi. By lending his considerable political and moral clout to the Bush administration’s falsehoods, Powell paved the way for the Iraq War to unfold. The decision to knowingly mislead the country into one of the biggest military blunders in American history ruined what should have been an immaculate career in public service.
Knowing the true legacies of Rumsfeld and Powell, one can only ask why the majority of the political elite are so quick to overlook the heinous consequences of these two men’s actions. There has been some pushback against the mainstream narrative from progressive media sites and those directly affected by the actions of the two men, but there has been little discussion of their impacts from the mainstream media. Rumsfeld and Powell, along with the rest of the Bush administration, are responsible for crafting a needless war that caused the deaths of over 4,500 Americans, not to mention the unnecessary killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. They committed war crimes, endorsed torture, and lied to the American people. It is irresponsible to omit these details when discussing the legacies of these officials.
As Bush-era officials begin to grow older and pass away, we will see more and more whitewashing of history. For example, the image of President George W. Bush is already being rehabilitated by many in the media, with Donald Trump taking his place as a liberal bogeyman. Public officials have a responsibility to the people they serve to tell the truth about the decisions and actions made by the architects of America’s needless wars. If we continue to erase the mistakes of the past, the American public will be dragged into the same problems again and again. I therefore implore every person in power to tell the truth about the legacies these officials leave behind, lest even more American lives be sacrificed in vain.
Tomas Taaffe (CC ‘23) is a staff writer at CPR. He is from Westfield, New Jersey and is studying Political Science and History. In his free time, he can be found playing the saxophone or exploring the city with friends.