Former US Diplomat: Rumsfeld led weak Bush to war

Brady Kiesling, who was political counsellor at the US embassy in Athens at the time of his resignation in February, said in an open letter published by Greek daily To Vima that Rumsfeld exploited the war to increase his own power.

Kiesling – whose warning that US aims in Iraq were "incompatible with American values" struck a chord with the predominantly anti-war Greeks – described Bush as "a politician who badly wants to appear strong but in reality is very weak".

He said Rumsfeld led Bush by the hand into war, marginalised the secret services who had doubts about the war, and emerged as the top politician in Washington.

"Easy to convince, (Bush) blindly believed in Rumsfeld's assurances that the occupation of Iraq would pay for itself," Kiesling said.