Donald Rumsfeld is dead, his family says. Here during a ceremony at a memorial site at the Pentagon in 2019. Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP/NTB
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Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is dead, the family said in a statement. He turned 88 years old.
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– It is with great sadness that we share the news of Donald Rumsfeld’s death, the family informs in one statement.
He died with his family gathered around Taos in the state of New Mexico, where he lived.
Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense in the United States for two terms. First between 1975 and 1977 under President Gerald Ford and then under George W. Bush between 2001 and 2006. The Republican is considered one of the main architects behind the Iraq war and the United States’ fight against international terrorism.
He was eventually subjected to strong criticism from both politicians and the military and resigned after the congressional elections in the autumn of 2006.
Four presidents
—-George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld during a ceremony at a memorial site at the Pentagon on September 11, 2008. Photo: Susan Walsh, AP / NTB
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Rumsfeld was first elected to the House of Representatives from the state of Illinois in 1963 and served under four presidents.
Just nine months into his second term as defense minister, the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place.
Rumsfeld became a polarizing figure in the 2000s. Through the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, he became known as an uncompromising politician with a confrontational style against political opposition, as well as both allies and enemies internationally.
Bush: – Inexhaustible energy
Bush remembers Rumsfeld as a “very good man.”
– An intelligent man with integrity and almost inexhaustible energy, a man who never faded before tough decisions and who never snuck away from responsibility, he says in a statement.
History will probably remember him for the extraordinary achievements during his six decades in the public service, the family writes in a statement.
– [Vi] will remember his unwavering love for his wife Joyce, his family and friends, and the integrity he brought with him to a life dedicated to his country.
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