Resolute through troubled times

Known and Unknown: A Memoir
by Donald Rumsfeld Sentinel, $55
Leaning forward is a phrase controversial former US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld uses often in his memoir, Known and Unknown.
During five decades near the centre of power in Washington, Rumsfeld has done a lot of leaning forward - or pushing of boundaries - and in doing so has attracted his fair share of criticism.
But he resiles from little in this frank and entertaining book, quoting Winston Churchill as saying: "I have benefited greatly from criticism and at no time have I suffered from a lack thereof."
Rumsfeld writes crisply about his middle-class upbringing, his early service as an aid during the Eisenhower administration, his election to the Congress at age 30, and later service in the Nixon and Ford administrations.
He has the distinction of not only being the youngest United States secretary of defence - he is also the oldest person appointed to that position. Thirty years later, he served as President George Bush's defence secretary for six, often contentious, years.
Rumsfeld is not afraid to admit that mistakes were made by Republican administrations of which he was part.
He had his differences with Henry Kissinger during his first tenure as defence secretary, and with Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice during his second. They were secretaries of state in charge of the United States' diplomacy, while Rumsfeld ran the Pentagon, so clashes were inevitable.
Rumsfeld was as surprised as anyone to be recalled to government service in his late 60s by George Bush, particularly because he had never been a favourite of Bush's father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush.
Rumsfeld resolutely defends the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and constantly underlines his reputation as a conservative hard-liner, although he describes his line of argument as pragmatic rather than doctrinaire.
He repeatedly insists that the US must show strength in its dealings with other nations, and that weakness in any form will be exploited by other nations with malicious intent.
During a career that spanned the end of the Vietnam war, the duration of the Cold War, countless Middle Eastern crises, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the war on terror, Rumsfeld survived as a public servant by "leaning forward" and pushing through change in some of the world's largest bureaucracies.
He paints himself as a reasonable but impatient figure, striving to improve the safety of his country.
His patriotism cannot be questioned. But there is no sign of reflection or doubt about his stances over the years. His resolution and lack of reflection in this book suggests he contributed to at least some of the problems the world continues to struggle with today.