0
Following the recent release of photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse, Donald Rumsfeld, the Sec. of Defense, has come under considerable pressure. Many Democratic congressman and several major newspapers have called for his resignation.
An example:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/07/op...print&position=There was a moment about a year ago, in the days of "Mission Accomplished," when Donald Rumsfeld looked like a brilliant tactician. American troops — the lean, mean fighting machine Mr. Rumsfeld assembled — swept into Baghdad with a speed that surprised even the most optimistic hawks. It was crystal clear that the Defense Department, not State and certainly not the United Nations, would control the start of nation-building. Mr. Rumsfeld, with his steely grin and tell-it-like-it-is press conferences, was the closest thing to a rock star the Bush cabinet would ever see.
That was then.
It is time now for Mr. Rumsfeld to go, and not only because he bears personal responsibility for the scandal of Abu Ghraib. That would certainly have been enough. The United States has been humiliated to a point where government officials could not release this year's international human rights report this week for fear of being scoffed at by the rest of the world. The reputation of its brave soldiers has been tarred, and the job of its diplomats made immeasurably harder because members of the American military tortured and humiliated Arab prisoners in ways guaranteed to inflame Muslim hearts everywhere. And this abuse was not an isolated event, as we know now and as Mr. Rumsfeld should have known, given the flood of complaints and reports directed to his office over the last year.
The world is waiting now for a sign that President Bush understands the seriousness of what has happened. It needs to be more than his repeated statements that he is sorry the rest of the world does not "understand the true nature and heart of America." Mr. Bush should start showing the state of his own heart by demanding the resignation of his secretary of defense.
This is far from a case of a fine cabinet official undone by the actions of a few obscure bad apples in the military police. Donald Rumsfeld has morphed, over the last two years, from a man of supreme confidence to arrogance, then to almost willful blindness. With the approval of the president, he sent American troops into a place whose nature and dangers he had apparently never bothered to examine.
We now know that no one with any power in the Defense Department had a clue about what the administration was getting the coalition forces into. Mr. Rumsfeld's blithe confidence that he could run his war on the cheap has also seriously harmed the Army and the National Guard.
This page has argued that the United States, having toppled Saddam Hussein, has an obligation to do everything it can to usher in a stable Iraqi government. But the country is not obliged to continue struggling through this quagmire with the secretary of defense who took us into the swamp. Mr. Rumsfeld's second in command, Paul Wolfowitz, is certainly not an acceptable replacement because he was one of the prime architects of the invasion strategy. It is long past time for a new team and new thinking at the Department of Defense.
The Bush administration leaked to the press that Rumsfeld receive a tongue-lashing from President Bush for not keeping him up to date on this scandal. Bush, however, stated later that Rumsfeld was doing a good job as Sec. of Defense and indicated that he was important member of his cabinet.
Several Republican congressmen and conservative newspapers have come to Rumsfeld's defense.
In today's congressional hearing, Rumsfeld apologized to the public for the prisoner abuse and indicated that he accepted full responsibility for this scandal.
What do you think and why? Should he resign or should he stay? What do you think the consequences of keeping him on the staff or firing him would be to the Middle East, Iraq, and the upcoming presidental election?
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by maccool
) when we were winning - this is just DC business as usual. Full of sound & fury, signifying nothing. He also is one of the most forward-looking types we've had as SecDef in some time - a great indicator was how much crap he was taking in attempting to shake up the green-suited bureaucrats before 9/11.
needs to be the one on the hot seat.
Bookmarks