Rumsfeld defends Romney: Embassy attacked because of 'American weakness'

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is defending Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for scoring political points by blaming "American weakness" for attacks on U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya -- even though terrorists attacked U.S. embassies 12 times during President George W. Bush's tenure.

"It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks," Romney had said over a statement from the U.S. embassy that denounced an anti-Muslim movie prior to the attacks.

That initial statement from the former Massachusetts governor and his press conference later in the day were both panned as "irresponsible" and "craven."

The neoconservative former Defense secretary took to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon to weigh in on the side of Romney.

"The attacks on our embassies & diplomats are a result of perceived American weakness," Rumsfeld wrote. "Mitt Romney is right to point that out."

As The Daily Dolt noted on Thursday, terrorists attacked U.S. embassies 12 times while President George W. Bush was in office. At least eight of those attacks occurred while Rumsfeld was serving as secretary of Defense.

Including the attacks on Tuesday, U.S. embassies have come under attack twice since Obama took office.

(h/t: Political Wire)