Rumsfeld has to go, weeklies for military say
WASHINGTON -- A group of military-targeted trade publications is calling on President Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, citing a lack of support from military leaders over the Iraq war.
"The time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth," said an editorial appearing in the Nov. 13 issues of Gannett Co.'s weekly Military Times newspapers, which include the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and Marine Corps Times. "Donald Rumsfeld must go."
Iraq has become a political liability for Bush's Republican Party as violence there has increased in recent months. The Iraq conflict is most often cited in polls of potential voters as the biggest issue in the midterm elections. "Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large," the newspapers said in the editorial, posted on their websites. "His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt."
Bush said Nov. 1 that he wants Rumsfeld to remain defense secretary . Bush has "made it clear that he wants Secretary Rumsfeld to serve out the rest of his term," Lieutenant Colonel Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said yesterday.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate, responded to the Military Times' editorials today with a statement e-mailed to reporters saying the newspapers "are right" and Rumsfeld should leave.
"We need better civilian leadership at the Pentagon," Reid said in a statement. 