WILL RUMSFELD RESIGN?

[mburbank]

He's the architect of the Iraq war. As the secretary of Defense he is the main man on every aspect of the Iraq war. Everything tht's gone wrong, everything we didn't plan for from the looting to how many troops we'd need and how long the have to stay, to our constantly shifting policy and the current prison scandal can be laid directly at his door.

Will he take the fall?

I don't think so, even though he's going to be an easy target in the election. Same goes for Cheney.

Two reasons.

1.) W's loyalty. Faith in the inner circle is Bush family tradition. Total secrecy , total loyalty. Cosa Nostra, baby. If they could find way to pin it all on Powell, that would be another matter.

2.) Find me a Neocon who's capable of thinking they were wrong about anything, ever. These are guys who if they were on fire would tell you they weren't. Nothing is going wrong, the things that are are minor, the mjor things going wrong don't change anything and the things that do change things didn't happen and they are all someone elses fault.

Rummy is staying right where he is.

[Buffalo Tom]

I came across this whilst searching for stories about the prisoner abuse scandal

The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush

From the dust jacket:

Each thought-provoking chapter highlights a unique leadership lesson gleaned from Bush’s political, professional, and personal endeavors. From owner of the Texas Rangers to President of the United States, these principles have propelled George W. Bush to the top and can do the same for you:

Identifying core values
Building alliances
Having a vision
Communication
Building trust
Discipline
Bringing in the right people
Intuition
Allowing those hired to do their jobs
Getting results

I guess Rumsfeld is one of those 'right people' Dubya is famous for identifying and placing in his cabinet.

[mburbank]

" Two Bush advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Bush stood firmly behind Rumsfeld despite what one called the "mild rebuke."

-AP Wire

[mburbank]

"THE HORRIFIC abuses by American interrogators and guards at the Abu Ghraib prison and at other facilities maintained by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan can be traced, in part, to policy decisions and public statements of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Beginning more than two years ago, Mr. Rumsfeld decided to overturn decades of previous practice by the U.S. military in its handling of detainees in foreign countries. His Pentagon ruled that the United States would no longer be bound by the Geneva Conventions; that Army regulations on the interrogation of prisoners would not be observed; and that many detainees would be held incommunicado and without any independent mechanism of review. Abuses will take place in any prison system. But Mr. Rumsfeld's decisions helped create a lawless regime in which prisoners in both Iraq and Afghanistan have been humiliated, beaten, tortured and murdered -- and in which, until recently, no one has been held accountable.

The lawlessness began in January 2002 when Mr. Rumsfeld publicly declared that hundreds of people detained by U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan "do not have any rights" under the Geneva Conventions. That was not the case: At a minimum, all those arrested in the war zone were entitled under the conventions to a formal hearing to determine whether they were prisoners of war or unlawful combatants. No such hearings were held, but then Mr. Rumsfeld made clear that U.S. observance of the convention was now optional. Prisoners, he said, would be treated "for the most part" in "a manner that is reasonably consistent" with the conventions -- which, the secretary breezily suggested, was outdated."

-Washington post editorial

Just in case you think it's only the liberal media, The Economist also calls for Rumsfeld resignation.

And just in case you think only the left thinks this is a serious matter, arch conservative super villian Karl Rove said
"it will take a generation for the United States to live this scandal down in the Arab world."

[mburbank]

"My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture," Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday. "I don't know if it is
correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or
that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not
going to address the torture word."


Hmmmm; that distinction should play well during Rummys testimony tomorrow.

[Stabby]

I think the only way he'll resign is if Bush takes a huge hit in the polls over this. He is at his lowest approval rating ever at the moment, but he's trying to make a come back by showing he's tough with the man, hence the publicized private admonishing, but like you said in your first post, rummy ain't going. Unless Bush really slips in the polls.

Should he go though, of course. Not only over how he handled the prison abuse but how he handles our rules of engagement. This came out today, sort of, I got it from a Pakastani paper:

Film shows Iraqis being shot dead by US copter

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: A French TV channel was due to show footage of a US military helicopter shooting three fleeing Iraqis dead, though they did not appear to be posing any threat.

According to Matt Drudge, who runs an online news site, the show “Merci pour l’info” (Thanks for the news) obtained the footage, seen by an AFP correspondent, from a “European working as a subcontractor for the US army” who left Iraq two weeks ago. The man claims to have hidden the tape, dated lst December 2003 and filmed at an unidentified location in Iraq, at the US base where he lived and worked. The three-and-a-half minutes of footage were taken from the helicopter firing at the three individuals, who were considered by the US military to be suspicious.

According to the report, “Conversations between the helicopter pilot, the sharpshooter and their commanding officer — who had a video link and is giving orders in real time — can be heard on the tape. The footage shows how the three men were killed one after the other. After the deaths of his two companions, the third attempted to hide under a truck, but was hit by helicopter gunfire. ‘Got the guy right here,’ says the sharpshooter, as the wounded man is seen crawling on the ground. ‘Good. Fire. Hit him,’ replies the officer.” Amnesty International has said that “scores of civilians have been killed apparently as a result of excessive use of force by US troops, or have been shot dead in disputed circumstances.”

The last thing the Bush administration would have wished in the wake of the Iraqi prisoner torture pictures that have sent a shockwave of anger and disgust around the world, especially in Arab and Muslim countries, was more evidence that the US army has committed atrocities in Iraq. The Pentagon has refused to provide a figure for Iraqi military and civilian casualties since the invasion, but the number is said to run into the thousands.

link

Here's the video (may be a little hard to watch for some): Iraq MPEG

[punkgrrrlie10]

Originally Posted by mburbank

" Two Bush advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Bush stood firmly behind Rumsfeld despite what one called the "mild rebuke."

-AP Wire

Interesting. He said publicly during a press conference this morning that he stood behind Rumsfeld and wouldn't fire him after a member of the press asked about the Rebuke and such. Wonder why they felt the need to remain anonymous.

[Ronnie Raygun]

Bush won't take a hit and Rums won't resign.

It's not a winning issue for democrats.

[mburbank]

I think if he does resign (and he won't, I don't think) then it isn't a winning issue for the Democrats.

Naldo, have you read Taguba's report? It's widely available on line at this point, I imagine even Rummy's read it by now. Taguba doesn't hold with the few bad apples theory even a little bit. He uses the word systemic, he says control by intelligence was authorised and that the lack of supervision in the prison system that led to this hppening is due to a failure of planning. This goes to the hain of command, a fact the army tacitly admitted months ago when they canned the prisons administrator but kept why secret.

[kellychaos]

I like the fact that SAYING he stands behind Rumsfeld but, in an attempt to steer blame away from himself, made a statement to the effect that he was angry he had to learn of the incident via the television media and inferring, of course, that people in his administration whose job it was to keep him informed (like Rumsfeld) were failing in that mission. Maybe if Bush went to the meetings a bit more often.

[mburbank]

Reagan stood behind and/or put his arm around a whole lot of cabinet secretaries who 'resigned' shortly thereafter. W. also said Condi wouldn't testify and he was only going to give an hour of his time and a whoe lot of other crap that melted away when things got hotter.