[andyfox]

Rumsfeld was not being reasonable. He was being stubborn. Rumsfeld, by his own admission, does not like to plan for all contingencies, because planning for bad things might keep what he wants to do from being done becasue it focuses on the negatives that might result from the action.

Saying "stuff happens" and "freedom's untidy" strikes me as a defense of the looting. What would people say if, say, one of the senators from Massachusetts, when asked about the looting in New Orleans, said "stuff happens and freedom's untidy"? They'd say he was defending or rationalizing the looting, wouldn't they?