Donald Rumsfeld book admits ‘misstatements’ over WMD sites

Former US defence secretary’s memoirs express regret for saying ‘stuff happens’ over Iraq war.

Ewen MacAskill

The former US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, admits in his memoirs that he made a mistake in claiming that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction sites round Baghdad and Tikrit, one of the main justifications for launching the Iraq invasion.

Rumsfeld says now: “I made a misstatement.” What he meant to say is there were ‘suspect sites’.

The incident is one of many in the 815-page autobiography, Known and Unknown, in which he seeks to revise the history of the Bush administration on issues ranging from Iraq to the Guantánamo detention centre.

Rumsfeld is one of the most controversial figures of the Bush era and his autobiography has long been awaited.   …read more

Stephen Elliott on Donald Rumsfeld: ‘He’s a Sympathetic Character’

By Jason Boog

When former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld publishes his memoir on February 8th, McSweeney’s will publish a “high-wire allegory” entitled Donald on the same day.

Written by Stephen Elliott and Eric Martin, the novel will be a paperback original searching for a sympathetic side to the former Secretary of Defense.

We caught up with Elliott to find out more about the book…read more

2011’s Most Anticipated Books

From Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir to David Foster Wallace’s posthumous novel, here are the 21 books that you won’t want to miss in 2011.

The mistletoe has been put away, the presents unwrapped, the New Year’s Champagne uncorked, and you still haven’t quite finished Franzen’s Freedom. But new books on how to run the world, turn around Starbucks, deal with a famous father, and even join a club are all coming out in the next few months. So get ready for the new literary season.

Here is The Daily Beast’s picks of the most controversial, intriguing, and just best reads for the first few months of 2011….read more