Rummy should be replaced....

[Duff McCartney]

According to Trent Lott....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041216/ap_on_go_co/lott_rumsfeld

BILOXI, Miss. - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be replaced sometime in the next year, Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record) says.


"I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld," Lott told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) on Wednesday. "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers."


Rumsfeld has under heavy criticism since a soldier asked him last week why the combat vehicles used in the war in Iraq (news - web sites) don't have the proper armor. Both Rumsfeld and President Bush (news - web sites) have said more vehicle armor will be shipped to Iraq.


Lott, speaking to the civic club Wednesday, said the United States needs more troops to help with the war and a plan to leave Iraq once elections take place in late January. The Mississippi Republican doesn't think Rumsfeld is the person to carry out that plan.


"I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year or so," Lott said. "I'm not calling for his resignation, but I think we do need a change at some point."


Lott lost his post as Senate majority leader two years ago after praising Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential run.


On Monday, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) told The Associated Press he has "no confidence" in Rumsfeld, citing Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq and the failure to send more troops.


McCain, Republican of Arizona, said his comments were not a call for Rumsfeld's resignation, explaining that Bush "can have the team that he wants around him."


He said he had also expressed lack of confidence in Rumsfeld when fielding a similar question a couple of weeks ago.

----------------------------------

Hmmmmm....and from a republican nonetheless.

[Hook Dem]

This may surprise you but this Republican is not thrilled about Rummy either.

[NeoConIV]

I'm not ready to pull the plug on Rumsfeld yet. What he has accomplished is nothing short of staggering.

[gophergeorge]

I am ready to serve again!

Regards,

Al Haig

[gophergeorge]

I am ready to serve again!

Regards,

Al Haig


Screw you moron!

Love,

Casper

[gophergeorge]

Screw you moron!

Love,

Casper


Hey, who is in charge here?

Regards,

Donald

[gophergeorge]

Hey, who is in charge here?

Regards,

Donald


I already told you! I am!

Sincerely,

Al Haig

[NeoConIV]

And before you say 'consider the source', I also say 'consider the source' of those trying to bring him down.

Defending Donald Rumsfeld

There is, as they say, blood in the water and the sharks are circling. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, blindsided with a planted question and a maladroit answer, is perceived by the opponents of the Bush Administration as being weakened and ready for the political chopping block - friends have fallen silent while supposed allies in his own Party are joining the chorus of criticism from an American leftwing which only knows how to criticise. What is to be done?

First and foremost, it should be kept in mind that the actual target is not Donald Rumsfeld, but President Bush - the reason that a McCain or a Lott might pile on is more in the fact that the latter is still stung by being forced out his Senate leadership with Presidential agreement while the former is still smarting from a defeat at the hands of the President in 2000; for the left, they just hate the President with a white-hot passion and any club which comes to hand will be wielded with abandon. Make no mistake about it - if the President's opponents obtain the political head of Donald Rumsfeld, they will not stop at that; they will press eagerly for more, ultimately leading up to an attempt to topple the President himself. We cannot allow this - for two reasons; the first is that in a time of war we cannot allow people to hamstring the government for partisan or personal reasons; the second, and far more important, is that Donald Rumsfeld is entirely too valuable a public servant to lose.

Much criticism is levelled against Donald Rumsfeld over the conduct of the war - and all of it boils down, in the end, to a complaint that things have not gone perfectly as determined by armchair strategists who bear none of the responsibility for carrying out actual decisions. Rightly or wrongly, the person at the top of an organization gets the blame or credit when things go wrong or right - and while things have gone wrong in the conduct of the war, things have also gone very right; for the enemies of Donald Rumsfeld, it is as if none of this matters. We have not established pure democratic paradise in Iraq, and thus Donald Rumsfeld is directly responsible and must be removed. This is nonsense.

Donald Rumsfeld took charge of a Department of Defense which had experienced ten years of continually shrinking appropriations and force levels. Less than 9 months after taking charge what is called by some World War III dropped into his lap - having only a skeletal military force at the start, Rumsfeld was charged with waging successful warfare against numerous, cruel and determined enemies - and he was further charged with doing it without undue loss of American, non-combatant and enemy life. A rather tall order, one might think - and given that in discharging his task he has organized the liberation of 50 million people, the toppling of two terrorist-sponsoring regimes, the military destruction of tens of thousands of America's enemies one might be inclined to also think he's done a pretty good job of it. Donald Rumsfeld deserves the thanks of a grateful nation, not the small-minded verbal sniping from lesser men who would likely quail in fear if they ever had to make a life and death decision.

We are winning this war, and part of the reason we're winning it is the excellent leadership of Donald Rumsfeld. I don't know what will happen over the next week or two - it could be that the political winds will blow so hard that even our staunch President will have to jettison Rumsfeld in order that we can get back to concentrating on the real issues of the day - but I will never forget that Donald Rumsfeld stood tall on 9/11 and has served with exemplary courage and honor every day he's held office. I shall also never forget those on my side who were week-kneed or petty-minded when push came to shove.

Mark Noonan blogged for Bush at 9:39 PM http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/003180.html

[GoldToe]

I'm not ready to pull the plug on Rumsfeld yet. What he has accomplished is nothing short of staggering.

What he has not accomplished is also staggering. Rumsfeld needs to take more control of the situation and finding 4Billion to help the troops is a good start.

[Nbadan]

I'm not ready to pull the plug on Rumsfeld yet. What he has accomplished is nothing short of staggering.

WTF?!?

Abu Gharib? Guantanamo? Poor War Planning? Inadaquate troop equipment and training? Outsourcing torture? Back-door draft? Building even more sophisticated nuclear weapons, useless against terrorists? A Missile defense shield that the Russians have already found a way to circumvent? Finding a way to destroy a great professional force? Screwing veterans and their families?

Rummy has been a busy boy.

[dcole50]

Staggering maybe in a "holy shit, why did he do that?" kind of way.

:x