Rumsfeld - The Psychopath

The Resistance

Psychopath: "sense of entitlement, unremorseful, apathetic to others, unconscionable, blameful of others, manipulative and conning, affectively cold, disparate understanding of behavior and socially acceptable behavior, disregardful of social obligations, nonconforming to social norms, irresponsible."

When Rumsfeld authorized torture, he added a personal note to the bottom of the authorization, which read:

"However, I stand from 8 to 10 hours a day.  Why is standing limited to 4 hours?"

In itself, this may seem like a rather mild comment, but I believe it speaks to Rumsfeld's misconception of the world, a misconception arising from an antisocial personality disorder combined with being a psychopath: "a remorseless predator who uses charm, intimidation and, if necessary, impulsive and cold-blooded violence to attain his ends."

Standing more than four hours a day is "cold-blooded violence", you may ask?  Perhaps not, but consider the facts.  Rumsfeld authorized the stripping of detainees (nearly all of which had committed no crime), the subjection of those detainees to attacks by dogs, and if, at it seems, he also authorized rape and sexual intimidation, dunking prisoners in water to create the impression that they would be drowned and beatings that resulted in death, we can make no mistake by declaring Donald Rumsfeld a psychopath, that is "a remorseless predator who uses intimidation and, if necessary, impulsive and cold-blooded violence to attain his ends."

Why quote the simple comment about standing more than 4 hours per day?  A closer look reveals much about Mr. Rumsfeld's mental illness.  First of all, his rule of judgment lies in an assessment based on himself alone.  He theorizes that if he can stand for 8 to 10 hours per day, detainees can be forced to stand for more than four hours per day.  Without reflection and without a sense of empathy or the ability to put oneself into the position of others (a trait which psychopaths lack), one might think his assertion is reasonable.  However, Mr. Rumsfeld is not a detainee.  He is a well paid and powerful man.  He eats well.  He sleeps well.  He decides what he will do during the course of the day and when he will do it.

Mr. Rumsfeld, unlike his detainees is not subjected to rape, deprivation of sleep, smearing with feces, sexual humiliation, brutality, poor food, separation from his family, complete denial of liberty, complete denial of human dignity, flesh wounds, lack of medical care and daily beatings.  Yet, Mr. Rumsfeld, fully aware that his prisoners are subjected to such abuses, cannot in any way relate to their suffering.  For Mr. Rumsfeld, these detainees are not human.

This is the kind of mind that allowed Germans to gas Jews.  Many Germans claim to have not known what was happening to the Jews during World War II.  At least, they claim, they did not know that Jews were being systematically butchered.  What things do we not know regarding the activities and systematic processes of Rumsfeld and his leader George Bush?  Will we wait until the even greater atrocities are publicized, many years from now, in a period of national shame, or will we put and end to this now?