another question, had been learning about what had gone on at Abu Ghraib. His greatest day, he joked, would come ten days later, when Gates was due to be sworn in as his successor. He went for another punch line when asked how he wanted history to remember him. "My goodness. Better than the local press," he quipped. But he also admitted that he would miss his jousting with reporters. "The stakeouts, the briefings—I'm told it was something like 613 over six years, all across the globe," he said. "Now, you know, we've not always seen eye to eye, I haven't, with the press, but I still hold out hope that over time, they'll get it close to right."

Concluding, Rumsfeld offered his belief that the struggles in IraqIraqi Deputy Prime Minister," December 21, 1983, National Security Archive.

160 "When the elevator doesn't": Donald Rumsfeld, interview by Scarborough, October 18, 2003.

160 "We were looking at it": Donald Rumsfeld, interview by Scarborough, October 18, 2003.

160 But the purpose of: George P. Shultz, Department of State Cable to the United States Embassy in Sudan, "Briefing Notes for Rumsfeld Visit to Baghdad," March 24, 1984, National Security Archive.

160 Rumsfeld was also carrying: Teicher and Teicher, _Twin Pillars_ , 299-300.

161 When Rumsfeld raised: Teicher and Teicher, _Twin Pillars_ , 299.

161 His hope was to expand: Teicher and Teicher, _Twin Pillars_ , 294, 297.

161 "a bigger disaster": Shultz, _Turmoil and Triumph_ , 235.

161 By the end of: Teicher and Teicher, _Twin Pillars_ , 262.

162 "He was deeply analytical": Interview with George Shultz,