[M 91 u2 K]

Something tells me Rummy will resign by the June 31st handover. Bush saying he wants Rummy to stay is so he can say Rummy departure is not The White House bowing to political pressure. Rummy will follow his rules and resign, and hopefully Paul Wolfowitz can become Secertary of Defense. It is obvious mistakes were made, but CIA Director Tenet should also resign he is even more responsible for the messes we have today.

[M 91 u2 K]

Secertary=Secretary

[FBD]

Fair analysis. I don't think Rumsfeld survives this onslaught, which is totally political. To hear jokers like Ted Kennedy; who drowned a woman in his car talk as if he had moral superiority is laughable.

However, I don't agree with Sullivan's call for the UN to be involved, after it's scandal in the oil for food kickbacks.

That's a FAR bigger scandal than the prisoner abuse, imo.

[pierrem15]

Andrew Sullivan is another fat headed hand-wringing member of the chattering classes.

In two weeks, most of this prison crap will be recognized as the partisan BS it is, as well as all the "we have lost the war" defeatism.

Does AS or anyone else think that the America hating left or the animals on the Arab street hated us less before this story broke?

Our biggest problem in Iraq is making clear to the Iraqis that we are not cutting and running in the face of the full-press defaet assault launched by the partisam media and scumsuckers in the press.

Tell Andrew to return to his gerbils and vaseline.

[vbmoneyspender]

Sullivan needs to stop reading watching the network news. We have actually turned the corner in Iraq. The moderate Shiites have finally found their voice and have spoken out against Sadr. They have actively helped us to isolate Sadr and his goons. As a result, the goons are being killed and/or rounded up as we speak.

What this all means is that the one group of people in Iraq who could prevent Iraq from becoming a stable democracy (i.e. the Shiites) have openly come out in favor of the rule of law and against a majority despotism founded upon religion. This is the most significant development that has taken place during the entire war and is probably the most signficiant development that has taken place in the Middle East since the revolution in Iran in 1979. But don't look for it to be mentioned too much amongst liberals posing as journalists.

[marron]

If Rumsfeld resigns Bush needs to appoint someone whose mere presence in the job will seize public attention away from the mistakes.

I'm not sure who that is, but Wolfowitz will be seen as more of the same, it will not buy Bush the break he needs. If Wolfowitz is going to take the job, you may as well leave Rumsfeld in it and take the heat.

Now, Wolfowitz at State, and Powell at Defense, or maybe Rice at State and Powell at Defense. That would shake things up on the PR front and in real terms as well. As much as he annoys some of us, Powell is still an asset to the administration. His presence in the job would defuse a lot of the heat. Rumsfeld has done a good job; mistakes were bound to be made in any undertaking of this size and magnitude. It may be time for someone to fall on his sword and take the heat for it.

The conditions at the prison have done us a lot of damage. Prisons are tough to manage in any case; even US prisons have occasional problems of inmate abuse as guards entertain themselves or exact retribution from troublesome inmates. They are usually smart enough not to photograph themselves doing what they do.

This has been a disaster. Heads must roll and must be seen publicly to roll up to and including the General running the place. Generals Sanchez and Abizaid could not reasonably have known about the abuses, so they should be left in their jobs, which means that people above them (Rumsfeld) should also be held "responsible" but not fired.

The problem with Rumsfeld is as the writer acknowledges. Faith in his handling of the occupation is slipping. His handling of the war itself was masterful. His idea of a stripped-down small-footprint occupation seems flawed now. There may be other issues we are unaware of, he may have been holding a considerable force in reserve in case things went ballistic in North Korea, or in case Pakistan started to implode forcing us to intervene to take control of her nukes. This would justify and explain why he has resisted putting more men into Iraq and Afghanistan.

If that is the case, it needs to be explained. If not, it may be time for him to go. The catch is that this may not be the last war on our list of things to do. Syria may still need to be dealt with, or Iran may force us to pay attention to her. We will need someone at Defense who is capable of mustering a fighting force. I still trust Rumsfeld to do that job better than someone else. So I suppose it comes down to this: if there is another war in the offing, leave him in place and take the heat. If we are done for now, remove him and put someone in who can better manage the occupation.

[CyberAnt]

NO!! If the President was going to get rid of the Secretary, he would have already done it.

Why does everyone judge what the President will do on how the Clintons manipulated everybody and everything. Sheeeesh!