Canada's shellshocked Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor heaped praise on Donald Rumsfeld and his "leadership" in letter obtained by the Globe and Mail today.
While former U.S. defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was makking sure the door didn`t hit his ass on the way out of the Pentagon under a cloud of criticism for his bungling of the war in Iraq, a letter arrived from O'Connor lauding his "leadership."
O'Connor sent the letter to Mr. Rummy two days before his disgraced departure from his post last December. The Republicans had lost their majority in the House and Senate and Dubbya said he recognized Americans were registering their displeasure with the war.
O'Connor wrote, "As you leave office, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your many achievements as Secretary of Defence, and to recognize the significant contribution you have made in the fight against terrorism," Mr. O'Connor wrote. He went on to say, "Here we have been privileged to benefit from your leadership in addressing the complex issues in play."
Ass-kissing aside, one wonders if Mr. O'Connor was praising Mr. Rumsfeld in order to do some featherbedding in advance of his return to arms-dealing as a defense lobbyist. So while most voices south of the border were declaring Rummy a disaster, Gordo disagreed with McCain who called Mr. Rumsfeld one of the worst defence secretaries in U.S. history.
Former Liberal Defence Minister John McCallum said that a "good luck" letter would be standard, but said Mr. O'Connor's note was "over the top."
Mr. McCallum said, "I think it probably reflects the Harper government's support for the Iraq war to write such a letter.
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