This week is the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom, which led to the nearly 9-year Iraq War.
Beginning on March 20th, 2003 and lasting until December 18th, 2011 (when Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta officially declared the war over), the Iraq War is one of the most contentious periods in American history.
That is clearly evidenced in the response that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is receiving over on Twitter right now.
Earlier this afternoon, Rumsfeld tweeted this:
10 yrs ago began the long, difficult work of liberating 25 mil Iraqis. All who played a role in history deserve our respect & appreciation.
— Donald Rumsfeld (@RumsfeldOffice) March 19, 2013
It has sparked a monsoon of replies, and to be perfectly blunt, it’s an all out sh*tstorm for the former Secretary. And thanks to Twitter’s recent update that expanded tweet pages to include more replies, we can see even more of what the Twitterverse is saying about the tweet:
(image)
(image)
(image)
(image)
And that’s not even half of it. In my years of following Twitter, this is one of the most universally ill-received tweets I’ve ever seen. Ouch.