Rumsfeld sought change in Iraq strategy, report says

WASHINGTON -- Two days before he resigned from the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent the White House a classified memo recommending "a major adjustment" in Iraq strategy and acknowledging slow progress there.

"Clearly, what US forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough," Rumsfeld wrote in the Nov. 6 memo.

Rumsfeld has made similar comments in public about insufficient progress in Iraq, both before and immediately after his resignation on Nov. 8.

What is most revealing about the memo, however, is the series of 21 options Rumsfeld offers regarding Iraq strategy for President Bush, options that, while Rumsfeld's own ideas, grew out of several weeks of discussions of alternative strategies with US military commanders, according to a senior defense official.

Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, said he thought disclosure of the memo would undercut any attempt by President Bush to defend anything resembling a "stay the course" policy in Iraq.

"When you have the outgoing secretary of defense, the main architect of Bush's policy, saying it's failing, that puts a lot more pressure on Bush," he said.

The existence of the memo was first reported last night by The New York Times, which posted it on its website.

The memo makes clear that Rumsfeld understood acutely the political implications of changing strategy.

"Announce that whatever new approach the US decides on, the US is doing so on a trial basis," he wrote. "This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not 'lose.' "

He continued: "Recast the US military mission and the US goals (how we talk about them) -- go minimalist."

Similarly, Rumsfeld advocated announcing "a set of benchmarks" for the Iraqi government -- to "get them moving," he added parenthetically -- as well as to reassure the US public that progress can be made.

Asked about the Rumsfeld memo, White House spokeswoman Eryn Witcher said: "The president has said he's been dissatisfied with the progress in Iraq, so the right thing to do is reevaluate our tactics. There are a number of reviews under way, and the president is open to listening to a wide array of options."

Rumsfeld's ideas did not depart radically from the alternative strategies emerging so far from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group or from other ongoing military and governmental Iraq policy reviews initiated in recent weeks.

For example, Rumsfeld called for significantly increasing the number of US military trainers embedded with Iraqi forces, and, in a twist, also for "a reverse embeds program" that would place Iraqi soldiers with American squads, partly to boost the Arabic-language skills of US troops.

Several options Rumsfeld suggested involve withdrawing or pulling back the 140,000 US troops in Iraq as a way to pressure the Iraqi government to take greater responsibility for its security.

This idea, favored by many Democrats in Congress, had not been publicly embraced by Rumsfeld to such a degree. Still, he wrote that he opposed setting a firm withdrawal date.

"Begin modest withdrawals of US and Coalition forces (start 'taking our hand off the bicycle seat'), so Iraqis know they have to pull up their socks, step up, and take responsibility for their country," Rumsfeld wrote.