Rumsfeld express regret over "old Europe" remark

Feb 3, 2011, 18:28 GMT

Washington - Former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was among the most provocative figures of the Bush administration, has expressed regret over referring to France and Germany in 2003 as 'old Europe' amid tension over the war in Iraq.

Rumsfeld is due to publish a new memoir with his perspective as Pentagon chief under then-president George W Bush. Rumsfeld was regarded as the chief architect of the war in Iraq. In the book he continues to defend the invasion, saying the Middle East would be 'far more perilous than it is today' if Saddam Hussein were in still in power.

The memoir, titled Known and Unknown and due in bookstores next week, is an 800-page account of his life and careers in government and business. The Washington Post and New York Times obtained early copies of the book and published stories Thursday.

But most of the book focuses on his tenure at the helm of the Pentagon from 2001-06, until Bush told him to resign. Rumsfeld's infamous 'old Europe' comment came just weeks before the invasion of Iraq and was meant to dismiss suggestion the US did not have the backing of Europe and pointed to support from the new democracies in Eastern Europe.

Rumsfeld speaks of a dysfunctional relationship in the White House's National Security Council in managing disputes between the State Department and Pentagon over the war in Iraq. He says then- national security advisor Condoleezza Rice failed to present coherent options for Bush.

Rumsfeld takes some snipes at Colin Powell for allowing the State Department to drift from Bush's policies while he was the top US diplomat.

According to the newspapers, Rumsfeld said Bush was a more 'formidable' president than popular belief would suggest. But Rumsfeld said he at times should have been more assertive with the president, especially over the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib that became public in 2004.

Bush twice rejected Rumsfeld's offer to resign over the scandal, a move Rumsfeld believed allowed critics to continue firing away at the administration over the war in Iraq.

More than anything else I have failed to do, and even amid my pride in the many important things we did accomplish, I regret that I did not leave at that point,' Rumsfeld, writes, according to The New York Times.

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