Rumsfeld's Quick Trigger

Raw Story has some excerpts of Andrew Cockburn's article about Rumsfeld's participation in "1980s "Continuity of Government" exercises, simulations of how government would attempt to function in the event of a major nuclear attack on the United States. The exercises received heavy funding during the Reagan and Bush years, and according to Cockburn, "Rumsfeld loved these games" and never missed any of them".

Goes on to say:

But instead of working to re-establish a functioning US government in the aftermath of a massive disaster, Rumsfeld had other priorities.

A former official in the Defense Department at the time told Cockburn that Rumsfeld, "always tried to unleash the maximum amount of nuclear firepower possible," in retaliation for a Soviet attack.

In the 1989 exercise Cockburn describes, Rumsfeld was successfully shut down by another player in the game who simulated the role of the Secretary of State.

Cockburn thinks the continuity of government exercise had interesting implications for Rumsfeld's real career as a policy and decision-maker.

"It is worth comparing Rumsfeld's behavior in the COG games with his performance in a real war," he observes. "The casual, maybe even irresponsible decisions taken in that war reflect attitudes and reactions better suited to an elaborate game, from which real-life costs and consequences are excluded."

Cockburn has written a book called "Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy" and his article in Salon is a good read. Shows Rumsfeld's mentality when he is free to do what he want's.