nd vision. From September 11, 2001 to late 2004, Rumsfeld was all but untouchable.

But the 'Generals Revolt' of 2005 and 2006, proved to be right on the money.

Rumsfeld was a lying, insidious propagandist, who okayed and encouraged the use of torture by the military in Iraq and the United States, who ignored the sexual torture of Abu Ghraib until confronted with it by the media, who played down the strength of the Iraqi insurgency for years while thousands of American soldiers died, and he was the one who regularly blasted anyone who said things might not actually be going America's way in Iraq as being like "Henny Penny", crowing about how "the sky is falling in..."

Rumsfeld is a fallen American icon now. The gloves are well and truly off and the head-kicking boots are on. It sounds like there are plenty of former Rumsfeld colleagues from the White House and Pentagon who are now ready to tell the truth about America's most dangerous defence secretary, and even Rumsfeld's behaviour on the morning of September 11, 2001, is coming into renewed and revelatory focus.

So what exactly was former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld doing on the morning of September 11, 2001?

We know Rumsfeld was in his office in the Pentagon, we know he was seen helping at least one of the wounded after the Pentagon was smashed by the third hijacked plane, and we know that he was the one who fronted the cameras hours before President Bush and "impressed viewers" with his "calm demeanour".

But according to a new book. 'Rumsfeld' by Andrew Cockburn, the then defence secretary was so unconcerned, and unsurprised, after learning that two jet airliners had crashed into the World Trade Centre towers that he continued with regular CIA briefing.

He only got moving when another plane slammed into the Pentagon. When Rumsfeld refused to follow security advice and chose instead to head out in front of the media cameras at the Pentagon, a senior White House official, with him that morning, says Rumsfeld "deserted his post".

When he picked up a piece of the destroyed American Airlines jet from the lawn of the Pentagon, he was "inteferring with a crime scene".

Rusmfeld also chose to ignore "anxious pleas" from the military to go immediately to the operational command centre. America was clearly under attack, but where was the defence secretary?

When he finally arrived at the command centre, the United States had been under attack for than two hours and the last hijacked airliner, United 93, had already crashed into a field.

The defence secretary took no part in US military operations on the morning of the most destructive attacks ever launched against the United States.

You can read the first chapter of the new book 'Rumsfeld' here.

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