Get rid of Rumsfeld

As Bob Woodward’s new book, "State of Denial," provides another look into the Bush administration’s mishandling of the Iraq war, one question stands out above all: Why is Donald Rumsfeld still defense secretary?
As we said in an editorialtoday, "President Bush’s refusal to hold Rumsfeld accountable for his bad decisions on Iraq, which have led to growing violence and mounting casualties, only hurts the entire administration’s credibility."
If Bush would dump Rumsfeld now, it would signal that the administration is serious about trying to "adapt to win" in Iraq. Instead, Bush recently called Rumsfeld to affirm his support.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

17 Comments

  1. Ben Huie
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 12:46 pm | Permalink

    RumNamara is the PERFECT SecDef for the Bush administration.

  2. CF
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 12:48 pm | Permalink

    C’mon, Joe Williams, Rummy’s gettin’ picked on!

  3. jw
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 1:17 pm | Permalink

    Rumsfeld is only following orders from George Bush. The president won’t fire himself. I guess y’all will have to wait a few more years to get any satisfaction on this one.

  4. Vaughn Tolle
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 1:23 pm | Permalink

    I have been ambivalent about Mr. Rumsfeld for four years; having served in the USAF, much of his program to modernize the military makes sense to me. His total aloofness, missteps, hubris, etc., have resulted in my arriving at the conclusion that he has to go, off into history to join Robert MacNamara on the slag heap of history. It would be interesting if Mr. Rumsfeld, following many years of retirement and introspection, would write a book such as Mr. MacNamara’s. Nah, it’ll never happen.

  5. Dennis
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 1:40 pm | Permalink

    Hubris.

    Down through the centuries it never fails to finally win.

  6. TRACY
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 1:59 pm | Permalink

    If Rummy would listen to Robert instead of Henry, we’d be a lot better off right now.

  7. Vaughn Tolle
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 2:04 pm | Permalink

    So true, Tracy, so true.

  8. heartlander
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 2:38 pm | Permalink

    Rummy went to Princeton. He must be pretty smart; unlike GWB at Yale, Rummy wasn’t a “legacy”. He should resign, and then write a tell-the-tale memoir, “My Mistake: I Let Myself Be a Cog in a Feudal Machine”. Cuz that’s what he is.

  9. CapnAmerica
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 4:36 pm | Permalink

    Nope . . . too easy . . . I’m passing on this one . . .

  10. steve
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 5:40 pm | Permalink

    I’d settle for Keep Rummy, Get Rid of the Dummy!

  11. GaryC.
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 6:46 pm | Permalink

    Rummy and the Bush family go waaaaayyyyy back!! No way in hell hes getting rid of him.

  12. lucee
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 7:04 pm | Permalink

    Rumsfeld will never be fired because he has never made any mistake – just like George W. – he has never made a mistake.

    So the country will be the one that pays the price for both of these foolish men.

    This is why the mid term election is so important. We need to get back to a 2-party control of Congress. These 1-party control is killing us.

  13. steve
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 7:18 pm | Permalink

    Military Madmen are killing our country! Actually, most of them aren’t ex-military, but they’re still killing our country!

  14. Lois Barrett
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 11:26 pm | Permalink

    “Stay the course” is only a good policy when you are on the right course. When you see that you are on the wrong course, it’s time to admit your mistakes and go to plan B. It seems that Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush are incapable of admitting to and correcting their mistakes.It’s ironic that during the 2004 campaign, Bush’s main attack against Kerry was that Kerry sometimes changed his mind. Bush could learn from Kerry.

  15. Jim G.
    Posted October 3, 2006 at 11:58 pm | Permalink

    Rumsfeld must be a highly intelligent guy. So was Robert McNamerra, and he finally dropped off. Rumsfeld blew it because both he and Bush come from arrogance and elitism. They should have listened to Colin Powell. Powell got off that wagon because he knew it was headed for crisis. Condi pretends all is well.Bush will be impeached next year. The SOB cannot get away with this.

  16. Nathan
    Posted October 4, 2006 at 2:46 pm | Permalink

    This is the problem with people like you Rhonda, you sit here blaming Rumsfield for Iraq being a failure and all the bad things and wrong when I blame the insurgents and terrorists and mercenaries here causing the problems.

  17. Ben Huie
    Posted October 4, 2006 at 6:03 pm | Permalink

    Republican Shays of CT is calling for Rumsfield to resign.

    A rat deserting a sinking ship?