Defense secretary being put to test

[mesobe]

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has built a career on blunt self-assurance, dismissiveness toward critics and a policy of rarely, if ever, showing self-doubt.

It is not clear whether those traits will serve him well in riding out the current political storm, perhaps the roughest of his decades-long career, over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military personnel.


That may become more evident Friday, when Rumsfeld is grilled by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.


In previous congressional appearances, Rumsfeld has shown a flair for disarming opponents with a solid grasp of facts and a ready wit. But those appearances did not carry the weight and high personal stakes of Friday's hearings.


President Bush (news - web sites) shows little sign of heeding calls for Rumsfeld's resignation; some political analysts expect Rumsfeld to depart at the end of the year in any case. He now risks seeing the end of his storied career engulfed in the sort of controversy he has been adept at avoiding since he was elected to the House from Illinois in 1962.


Reeling from revelations and graphic photographs that show the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military guards in Iraq (news - web sites)'s Abu Ghraib prison, Rumsfeld on Friday will face angry lawmakers from both parties demanding answers.


At issue is what happened inside the prison, why Congress wasn't told about it earlier, and whether other instances of prisoner abuse have occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan (news - web sites) and elsewhere.


With several Democrats calling for Rumsfeld's resignation, Friday's hearings could also turn into a debate on the progress--or lack of it--in Iraq.


"The gravity of the problems that have occurred under the failed leadership of Secretary Rumsfeld has grown to the point where his continued leadership at the Department of Defense (news - web sites) is no longer in the national interest," Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record) (D-Calif.) said.


But Bush said bluntly Thursday that Rumsfeld will "stay in my Cabinet," and some Republican leaders dismissed the resignation calls as a political ploy. Analysts said Bush would be unlikely to accept his defense secretary's resignation in a time of war.


As one of Washington's most practiced political and bureaucratic survivors, Rumsfeld, a former member of the board of directors of Tribune Co., appeared aware of the significance of Friday's congressional confrontation.


He canceled a policy speech in Philadelphia on Thursday and cleared his desk to prepare his testimony, poring over chronologies and reports concerning the incidents inside Abu Ghraib, Pentagon (news - web sites) officials said.


Rumsfeld also requested Army reports on other cases of alleged prisoner abuse, including 10 open cases concerning the deaths of detainees in U.S. military custody and three that have been resolved, according to sources.


One Army officer said Thursday that, in addition to the still photos that have been published and broadcast, Army criminal investigators have discovered a video of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib taken by a soldier using a digital camera and that Rumsfeld will be prepared to talk about that.


"At first they thought it showed soldiers just horsing around," the officer said. "But then they found a part of it that showed prisoners apparently being abused."


Voice of authority


Rumsfeld's outspoken, quotable nature, his willingness to testify on Capitol Hill, his near-weekly news briefings and his frequent foreign trips have made him the administration's de facto national security spokesman.

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That and his stature as a former congressman, U.S. ambassador to NATO (news - web sites) and White House chief of staff under President Gerald Ford have given him a distinctive role in Bush's Cabinet.

He has risen above other Cabinet officers, though less than his close friend and ally, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites). In some respects, Rumsfeld has served as a second vice president.

That worked well before the war in Iraq and during the major combat phase. But as an invasion turned into an occupation and promises of peace withered under the fusillade of bombs, suicide attacks and running gun battles, Rumsfeld's assurances that progress was being made began to draw fire.

In the 12 months since Bush declared major combat over, U.S. inspectors have failed to find the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others promised were there.

Rumsfeld's Pentagon, which seized authority for running postwar Iraq from the State Department, is now saddled with a stumbling effort to repair a shattered economy and install a new Iraqi government.

So far, more than 760 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

Against that backdrop, it may not be surprising that the Abu Ghraib abuses quickly expanded from a case of human-rights violations to a political and policy scandal.

"There is plenty of documentation that they were really not prepared for this detention operation," said John Pike, a military analyst and director of Globalsecurity.org. Pike said one of the major flaws in Rumsfeld's war plan was the failure to prepare for the postcombat cleanup.

Change of temperament

Rumsfeld's response to the political crisis has lacked his characteristic sure-footedness. He addressed the treatment of prisoners for the first time Tuesday--nearly a week after CBS News aired the photos.

Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will appear before the congressional committees alongside Rumsfeld. He also was late in reacting, telling interviewers Sunday that he had not read a military report, completed more than two months ago, that detailed the Abu Ghraib abuses.

Rumsfeld condemned the prison guards' behavior, but he did not apologize for it. Instead, he said terrorists are trained to accuse their captors of harassment and offered assurances that those involved would be punished.

When asked why he had not told Congress earlier about the abuse--a question likely to arise repeatedly on Friday--Rumsfeld said, "we informed the world on Jan. 16," three days after a soldier told a superior about the abuse.

The military in Baghdad issued a news release on that date, then followed up with a briefing. But that was before the photos were released, making clear the extent of the mistreatment.

Members of Congress say that they were not told of the photographs, even though Rumsfeld briefed some lawmakers on the war just hours before the photos were broadcast.

An Army officer with knowledge of the investigation said some congressional staff members were briefed on it, but "they weren't shown the photos. I don't even think people here [in Washington] had the photos."