Rumsfeld’s “Poor Memory”

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So back in April of last year, two investigators from the Pentagon’s inspector general paid Donald Rumsfeld a little visit to ask him about “the largest defense procurement scandal in recent decades.” Nothing major, just a few questions here and there. The usual. Here’s how the interview went, according to the Washington Post:

Rumsfeld cited poor memory, loose office procedures, and a general distraction with “the wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan to explain why he was unsure how his department came to nearly squander $30 billion leasing several hundred new tanker aircraft that its own experts had decided were not needed…

[A] copy of the transcript [of the Rumsfeld interview], obtained recently by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act after a year-long wait, says a lot about how little of Rumsfeld’s attention has been focused on weapons-buying—a function that consumes nearly a fifth of the $410 billion defense budget, exclusive of expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yeah, what’s a few billion dollars anyway? Lucky for us we have a “CEO President” at the helm to make sure everything’s running smoothly…

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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