Trying to understand another human being is often a dismal task. And if not dismal, thankless. What am I supposed to do? Disapprove of Donald Rumsfeld? Thatâs easy. Perhaps too easy. He was ambitious, driven â also lucky. And, as we all know, he was one of the chief architects of the disastrous war in Iraq. It is impossible for me to write about Mr. Rumsfeld, the former U.S. secretary of defense who died Tuesday, without writing about his memos. He played a role in making memo-writing the new frontier in governmental accountability. He also pioneered the memo as an obfuscatory instrument. Write one memo saying one thing, write another memo saying the exact opposite.