Rumsfeld must go

Rumsfeld resignation calls grow

Pressure is growing on US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with more retired generals calling for him to resign over the Iraq war.

The White House has said it is happy with the way Rumsfeld is handling his job and the situation in Iraq, but the number of retired generals calling for Rumsfeld to be replaced has risen to seven.

It is being described as a rebellion led by those who know Rumsfeld's handling of the war from the inside.

Ex-Nato commander Gen Wesley Clark, who ran for the Democrat presidential nomination in 2004, backed calls for Rumsfeld to resign.

Six retired generals have recently spoken out against Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq.

Frequent critic
Gen Clark said in a television interview: "I believe secretary Rumsfeld hasn't done an adequate job. He should go."

Gen Clark said he believed Rumsfeld, along with Vice-President Dick Cheney, had helped push the Iraq invasion when there was "no connection with the war on terror".

Gen Clark said the secretary had lost the confidence of some officers in the military who were asking for "somebody in the military chain of command who will listen".

Gen Clark has been a frequent critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy.

Two other recent retired generals to voice their unease about Rumsfeld's handling of the war are Maj Gen John Riggs and Maj Gen Charles H Swannack Jr, both of the Army.

"I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces"
Maj Gen Charles H Swannack Jr

In a radio interview Gen Riggs, a former division commander, said it was time for Rumsfeld to go because he fostered an atmosphere of "arrogance" among the Pentagon's top civilian leadership.

"They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign," he told National Public Radio (NPR).

Gen Swannack Jr, who led the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, went even further.

He questioned whether Rumsfeld was the right person to lead the fight against terrorism.

CRITICAL RETIRED GENERALS
Gen Wesley Clark, ex-Nato commander
Gen Charles H Swannack Jr, Army
Gen John Riggs, Army
Gen John Batiste, Army
Gen Anthony Zinni, Marines
Gen Gregory Newbold, Marines
Gen Paul Eaton, Army

"I really believe that we need a new secretary of defence because Secretary Rumsfeld carried way too much baggage with him," he told CNN.

"Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces."

Gen Riggs, who has been an outspoken critic on problems facing the US military before, served in the army for 39 years and became a three-star general.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions as a helicopter pilot during Vietnam, but retired with the loss of one of his general's stars after the army said he had misused contractors, according to the NPR website.

Gen Swannack Jr commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq from 2003-4.

The fresh resignation calls add to those already made by four other retired generals directly involved in the Iraq war and its planning.

Retired Marine Gen Anthony Zinni told CNN Rumsfeld should be held responsible for a series of mistakes, beginning with "throwing away 10 years worth of planning, plans that had taken into account what we would face in an occupation of Iraq".

The embattled defence secretary, had earlier twice offered to resign over the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal - offers which US President George W Bush rejected.

Further Reading
Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld
Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander