Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was on the podcast the other day, discussing his new book, Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life. I also asked him about the situation in Syria — and whether or not we should support the rebels.
On that topic, he sounded a cautionary note:
“I don’t know anybody — except, I guess, Secretary Hillary Clinton said she thought Assad was a reformer, which I never understood — he’s not even close to a reformer — [but] nobody, I think, admires him or wants him to stay on. But the question is: ‘Who’s going to replace him?’ Is it going to be a radical Islamist? And how do we know? And I haven’t met with he opposition forces, but they are all across the spectrum.
“… But… the problem is in Egypt, the best organized, the toughest, the most vicious, were the most extreme. And they’re the ones who won.”
You can listen to our full conversation by clicking the player above. Or download the podcast on iTunes.