When he came back, he told me he was so upset and angry he had taken a walk to calm down. He reminded me of how often he had stated his respect for and agreement with President Bush and the members of his Cabinet. He reminded me of how often he had been angry when I found fault with them, and how he had defended them. He told me he was done with them, and he was done with the Republican Party. A few days later, he asked me if I had bookmarks or a browser history showing what media sites I visited. He got really busy—he was always on the computer investigating stuff. I thought then that my husband must have already had experiences which opened him up to frustration with conservatives and the Republican Party. I thought that it was most likely that what Rumsfeld said was simply the thing that pushed him over the edge and away from the Right. Later, while talking with my husband, I found out that was not the case. He found Rumsfeld’s words heartless. Our invasion of Iraq was not an on-the-fly decision in response to some intolerable act. The United States picked a date for the beginning of the war. My husband said it was unacceptable to him that troops were sent to war without everything they needed to keep them as safe as possible in the field. He saw Rumsfeld’s reply as a glib answer to a serious question. He felt that a decision to risk the lives of men and women in uniform deserved more planning and preparation instead of a flippant response.
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