The Defense Secretary's Rite Of Spring

No.253, aired March 19, 2014. Annual “Rite of Spring” episode, featuring Donald Rumsfeld’s audiobook Known and Unknown: A Memoir (Sentinel, 2011). Not a terribly revealing book. I was a bit surprised at how distant, in his own account, the Defense Secretary seemed from the President’s office, and in particular, Vice-President Dick Cheney, during the Iraq invasion.

An interesting moment comes at page.422 of the print version, when Rumsfeld writes: “My concerns about Iraq went beyond Saddam’s support of terrorism or any involvement with AL-Qaeda.” So long out of office, and with the invasion a full decade past, and in a format that will reach a relatively small population, Rumsfeld applies the precise propaganda techniques that were used to justify the invasion in 2003. He makes an association between Iraq and terrorism, implying a connection, but is careful not to say that there is an actual connection. Has he internalized this technique to the point that he doesn’t know he is doing it? Or is he still in political mode, so long after the fact?

Part 1

1. Part I: The Adoration Of The Earth (Introduction) – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
2. Gloryhounds – Royal Red Brigade
3. Young Girl’s Dances – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
4. Pray For Darkness – Cancer Bats
5. Mock Abduction – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
6. Herr Noit – Lederhosen Lucil
7. Round Dances – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
8. Dress To Kill - Royal Red Brigade
9. Games Of Rival Tribes / Wise Elder’s Procession / Adoration Of The Earth / Dance Of The Earth – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Part 2

1. Part II: The Sacrifice (Introduction) – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
2. Lashed Out & Gashed - Pericardium
3. Mystic Circles / Glorification – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
4. Throwing The Fight – Sailboats Are White
5. Summoning The Ancients – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
6. The Fourth Finger Of My Left Hand – Sailboats Are White
7. Ancients’ Ritual – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
8. Bodies - Pericardium
9. Sacrificial Dance – Igor Stravinsky (comp.) / Chicago Symphony Orchestra