title:  He Got Thousands Of U.S. Soldiers Killed, And Now He Backs Trump (VIDEO)
text: Donald Rumsfeld is widely regarded as one of the worst secretaries of defense to serve in the United States. Despite that fact, on Fox News he is still regarded as a credible voice on national security and he appeared on the conservative network on Wednesday night to announce his support for Donald Trump.Rumsfeld told host Greta Van Susteren that Trump was a  known unknown  and that he  could not  vote for Hillary Clinton.His statement was an insensitive joke, alluding to his claim in 2002 that there were  known unknowns  about the alleged links between al Qaeda and the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. Those non-existent links were later used as a pretext for Rumsfeld s then-boss, President George W. Bush, to invade Iraq in 2003.Rumsfeld joins former Vice President Dick Cheney in supporting Trump as stalwarts of the Bush administration. By comparison, Bush himself is not supporting Trump, nor are his father, former First Lady Barbara Bush, Trump s primary rival Governor Jeb Bush, or former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.Rumsfeld s tenure as Secretary of Defense was marred by a series of blunders and lies that lead directly to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and Iraqis. He ridiculed requests before the war began for a larger invasion force, which led to resources being stretched to the breaking point when the bloody Iraqi insurgency rose up against the troops.Under Rumsfeld, the U.S. military set up a torture site at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, a black mark on the American record that has been cited by hundreds of terrorists and their allies as a justification for aggression towards the west.Rumsfeld also oversaw the turnover of many key American military functions to private contractors, who often engaged in torture and abuse while being paid by taxpayers.In 2006, an unprecedented  General s revolt  of retired generals and admirals called for Rumsfeld to be fired from his position. President Bush defended Rumsfeld until Republicans lost control of the House and Senate in fall of 2006, after which his resignation was accepted.Donald Trump has promised that as president he would increase the American use of torture, including waterboarding, a reversal of policy from President Obama but a return to techniques favored by his latest supporter   Donald Rumsfeld.Featured image via YouTube