blueturk
04-18-2006, 09:56 PM
Rumsfeld takes on his critics
BY G. ROBERT HILLMAN AND RICHARD WHITTLE
The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mounted an all-out counterassault Tuesday against the retired generals demanding his dismissal as President Bush tried again to extinguish the firestorm.
"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as secretary of defense," Bush told reporters at the White House in clipped, no-nonsense fashion, his right hand sometimes chopping the air.
Rumsfeld pressed his case later at a Pentagon news conference, then followed up with a hastily scheduled meeting with about 15 retired military commanders and others who are now military media analysts.
It was the latest round in what has evolved in the last week as another intense battle in the war in Iraq, this one over presidential policy and Rumsfeld's often blunt manner in carrying it out.
On Tuesday, Rumsfeld took on his critics directly, following some weekend help from retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the recently departed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who appeared Sunday on ABC's "This Week." Four other retired military commanders wrote Monday in The Wall Street Journal that "we do not believe that it is appropriate for active duty, or retired senior military officers to publicly criticize" the defense secretary during war.
"In time, the electorate, and history, will grade their decisions," the retired military leaders said.
No stranger to controversy during his long career in government, politics and business, Rumsfeld has drawn steady fire since Bush chose him to run the Pentagon five years ago, particularly over his planning and management of the war in Iraq.
But the unusually harsh calls for his resignation by a succession of retired generals, including some who have served in Iraq, have raised the stakes. So both the defense secretary and the commander in chief are pushing back, against the gloomy backdrop of an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq and looming midterm elections this fall at home.
"I see a White House that has put itself in a corner and doesn't know how to get out," said retired Air Force Col. P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the Pentagon and National Security Council during the Clinton administration.
"There certainly is a problem of optics for the White House if they are seen as caving in to the generals," he said. "That would set a very ugly precedent for our society."
With Bush's job approval rating at the lowest of his presidency, Crowley suggested Rumsfeld could be another drag on the Republican drive to retain control of Congress in this fall's midterm elections.
"I don't know that the president can afford to stay in this kind of defensive crouch forever," Crowley said. "At some point, something has to give."
On Tuesday, though, Bush gave not an inch.
Confronted in the Rose Garden by reporters' questions on the prospect of a major shakeup in his administration, he dug in.
The president said he'd tried to stay clear of the personnel speculation "because we got people's reputations at stake." But he said he "stood up" on Friday - in a statement from Camp David - to defend Rumsfeld because "he's doing a fine job."
Clearly, though, the administration is concerned that the collective criticism of the retired generals - unlike calls by prominent congressional Democrats for Rumsfeld to step down - may gather steam among a public that polls show is largely weary of the turmoil in Iraq.
"We need to continue to fight the global war on terror and keep it off our shores. But I do not believe Secretary Rumsfeld is the right person to fight that war based on his absolute failures in managing the war against Saddam in Iraq," retired Army Major Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne in Iraq in 2004, told The New York Times last week.
At the same time, Democratic congressional critics are continuing their calls for change, with Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois even suggesting on Tuesday that Rumsfeld should face what would be a symbolic vote of confidence in the Senate. "Let the Senate go on record," he told reporters.
How such a vote might proceed however, was unclear, particularly since Republicans control the Senate.
And Rumsfeld, who twice offered the president his resignation in the wake of prisoner abuses in Iraq, shrugged off questions about whether he might offer it again. His work to transform the military into a more efficient, mobile force had "caused a lot of ruffles," he said, and he's willing to take the heat for it.
"The president knows, as I know, that there are no indispensable men. The graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable people," Rumsfeld said. "He knows that I serve at his pleasure, and that's that."
Still, the criticism of the retired generals has struck a public chord that could mean even more political headaches for the president, already struggling for some new footing in the sixth year of his presidency.
"This is serious stuff," said Washington political analyst Charles Cook, noting that people generally are much more likely to "give the benefit of the doubt' to the complaints of retired military leaders than to those of carping politicians.
"This is real," Cook said, making it clear that administration officials were "not paranoid" in their determined efforts to stamp out the firestorm.
At the meeting of military analysts, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd, a military analyst for CNN, said Rumsfeld didn't bring up the calls for his resignation by the retired generals, but was "clearly distracted by it, and worried about it and concerned about it."
"He listened to a lot of things from the group," Shepperd said, explaining that the session focused mainly on Iraq and what events might evolve there that would send encouraging signals back home.
Shepperd reported that Rumsfeld said the formation of a new Iraqi government, stalled for months, would be such a new milestone.
But Shepperd said on CNN that Rumsfeld had still predicted a "tough war" ahead.
"It's going to be a long war in many places, and it's not going to be something that's going to come out (wrapped) with a bow in the next year or two years," he said, paraphrasing Rumsfeld's comments.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14372123.htm
BY G. ROBERT HILLMAN AND RICHARD WHITTLE
The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mounted an all-out counterassault Tuesday against the retired generals demanding his dismissal as President Bush tried again to extinguish the firestorm.
"I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as secretary of defense," Bush told reporters at the White House in clipped, no-nonsense fashion, his right hand sometimes chopping the air.
Rumsfeld pressed his case later at a Pentagon news conference, then followed up with a hastily scheduled meeting with about 15 retired military commanders and others who are now military media analysts.
It was the latest round in what has evolved in the last week as another intense battle in the war in Iraq, this one over presidential policy and Rumsfeld's often blunt manner in carrying it out.
On Tuesday, Rumsfeld took on his critics directly, following some weekend help from retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the recently departed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who appeared Sunday on ABC's "This Week." Four other retired military commanders wrote Monday in The Wall Street Journal that "we do not believe that it is appropriate for active duty, or retired senior military officers to publicly criticize" the defense secretary during war.
"In time, the electorate, and history, will grade their decisions," the retired military leaders said.
No stranger to controversy during his long career in government, politics and business, Rumsfeld has drawn steady fire since Bush chose him to run the Pentagon five years ago, particularly over his planning and management of the war in Iraq.
But the unusually harsh calls for his resignation by a succession of retired generals, including some who have served in Iraq, have raised the stakes. So both the defense secretary and the commander in chief are pushing back, against the gloomy backdrop of an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq and looming midterm elections this fall at home.
"I see a White House that has put itself in a corner and doesn't know how to get out," said retired Air Force Col. P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the Pentagon and National Security Council during the Clinton administration.
"There certainly is a problem of optics for the White House if they are seen as caving in to the generals," he said. "That would set a very ugly precedent for our society."
With Bush's job approval rating at the lowest of his presidency, Crowley suggested Rumsfeld could be another drag on the Republican drive to retain control of Congress in this fall's midterm elections.
"I don't know that the president can afford to stay in this kind of defensive crouch forever," Crowley said. "At some point, something has to give."
On Tuesday, though, Bush gave not an inch.
Confronted in the Rose Garden by reporters' questions on the prospect of a major shakeup in his administration, he dug in.
The president said he'd tried to stay clear of the personnel speculation "because we got people's reputations at stake." But he said he "stood up" on Friday - in a statement from Camp David - to defend Rumsfeld because "he's doing a fine job."
Clearly, though, the administration is concerned that the collective criticism of the retired generals - unlike calls by prominent congressional Democrats for Rumsfeld to step down - may gather steam among a public that polls show is largely weary of the turmoil in Iraq.
"We need to continue to fight the global war on terror and keep it off our shores. But I do not believe Secretary Rumsfeld is the right person to fight that war based on his absolute failures in managing the war against Saddam in Iraq," retired Army Major Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., who commanded the 82nd Airborne in Iraq in 2004, told The New York Times last week.
At the same time, Democratic congressional critics are continuing their calls for change, with Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois even suggesting on Tuesday that Rumsfeld should face what would be a symbolic vote of confidence in the Senate. "Let the Senate go on record," he told reporters.
How such a vote might proceed however, was unclear, particularly since Republicans control the Senate.
And Rumsfeld, who twice offered the president his resignation in the wake of prisoner abuses in Iraq, shrugged off questions about whether he might offer it again. His work to transform the military into a more efficient, mobile force had "caused a lot of ruffles," he said, and he's willing to take the heat for it.
"The president knows, as I know, that there are no indispensable men. The graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable people," Rumsfeld said. "He knows that I serve at his pleasure, and that's that."
Still, the criticism of the retired generals has struck a public chord that could mean even more political headaches for the president, already struggling for some new footing in the sixth year of his presidency.
"This is serious stuff," said Washington political analyst Charles Cook, noting that people generally are much more likely to "give the benefit of the doubt' to the complaints of retired military leaders than to those of carping politicians.
"This is real," Cook said, making it clear that administration officials were "not paranoid" in their determined efforts to stamp out the firestorm.
At the meeting of military analysts, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd, a military analyst for CNN, said Rumsfeld didn't bring up the calls for his resignation by the retired generals, but was "clearly distracted by it, and worried about it and concerned about it."
"He listened to a lot of things from the group," Shepperd said, explaining that the session focused mainly on Iraq and what events might evolve there that would send encouraging signals back home.
Shepperd reported that Rumsfeld said the formation of a new Iraqi government, stalled for months, would be such a new milestone.
But Shepperd said on CNN that Rumsfeld had still predicted a "tough war" ahead.
"It's going to be a long war in many places, and it's not going to be something that's going to come out (wrapped) with a bow in the next year or two years," he said, paraphrasing Rumsfeld's comments.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14372123.htm