The Washington Post has an interesting story today; the paper has acquired a bunch of internal memos written by Donald Rumsfeld while he was secretary of defense.

The memos, which were known internally as “snowflakes,” show how Rumself tried to drum up, then prop up, support for the war.

In my opinion, they also suggest that Rummy is one of the more serious jerks you could ever want to know.

In a series of internal musings and memos to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid “physical labor” and wrote of the need to “keep elevating the threat,” “link Iraq to Iran” and develop “bumper sticker statements” to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war.

Think that’s bad? Listen to this.

In one of his longer ruminations, in May 2004, Rumsfeld considered whether to redefine the terrorism fight as a “worldwide insurgency.” The goal of the enemy, he wrote, is to “end the state system, using terrorism, to drive the non-radicals from the world.” He then advised aides “to test what the results could be” if the war on terrorism were renamed.

Rumsfeld’s meanderings really build the case not just for war with Iraq, but for war without end.

One of the lessons of Rumsfeld’s disastrous tenure, I would suggest, is that it is a mistake to appoint as secretary of defense someone who actually seems to enjoy war……