– Naadiya Adams

The news of Donald’s Rumsfeld passing has ushered in mixed emotions across the globe, while the Western world mourns; the Arab world welcomes the news.

Rumsfeld died on Tuesday, 29 June due to multiple myeloma – a form of cancer- at the age of 88. He served as the US Secretary of Defence for two non-consecutive terms, during his tenure, he oversaw Americas Cold War strategies and more recently ordered various atrocities in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Described as a “Warmonger”, Rumsfeld’s legacy is embroiled in death and destruction, the 2003 invasion of Iraq in search of non-existent weapons of mass destruction is one of the biggest blunders in US military history.

Moazzam Begg, Outreach director at Cage UK, was a prisoner in Baghran in Afghanistan during Rumsfeld’s time in office, in an interview with Radio Islam, he describes what prison life was like under the then Secretary of Defence’s rule.

Begg says its never a celebration when you hear of someone’s passing, but when it concerns a person whose legacy is one that left hundreds of people dead, its hard not to feel a sense of relief.

“His legacy about the number of people killed, as a result of the Iraq war, the number of people tortured, the deaths in Guantanamo and that kind of hawkish belligerent language that he used towards us as prisoners in Guantanamo. And in Baghran where I was held I saw two people murdered, beaten to death, tortured by American soldiers.”

Begg described a method of torture endorsed by Rumsfeld that left prisoners tied with arms above their heads while they remained suspended in the air for hours. According to Begg, he encouraged these kind of stressful torture positions.

“He actually laments and says, I stand for seven hours a day, why is standing for these prisoners only restricted to four hours and of course it wasn’t restricted to four hours, it sometimes went on for days and weeks,” said Begg, “they were standing being tortured with their hands tied above their head and a hood placed over their heads while their being punched and kicked. So that’s what he was endorsing and that’s just one of the techniques.”

The dismemberment of Iraq happened during Rumsfeld’s time, the ongoing torture in prisons that happened under his watch initiated the emergence of Isis according to Begg, the US’s relentless war on terrorism was a monster of their own making.

“In the prisons, in Khambuka in Abu Gharaib, you had former member of the basis Saddam forces meet Al-Qaeda and so forth, they in those prisons formulated the idea that would later become ISIS… if you wouldn’t have abused people, people wouldn’t have reacted so badly and Iraq is still recovering from it,” says Begg.

Begg also mentions how Rumsfeld was instrumental in fermenting violence, death and destruction. There are photos that show Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein in the 80’s during the time the US supplied Iraq with chemical weapons – showing his firm hand in the destruction that would follow.

While Rumsfeld, and his allies George W. Bush and Dick Chanay were never tried in a court of law for the crimes they committed in the Muslim world, though various prisoners have given testimony during a people’s tribunal including Begg.

“The record shows, based on our testimony that was given in this court where lawyers were present and judges were present from around the were world and the Prime Minister of Malaysia was present… this evidence lead to their convictions, now these convictions are not actionable, nothing can be done with them but it’s the only place where they’ve ever been tried, charged and convicted.”

According to Begg, there is hope that Guantanamo Bay will close under Biden’s rule as he starts to allow the release of prisoners.