This third anniversary of the Iraq War was a bad weekend for beleaguered Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney and everyone else seen as directly responsible for the inept bungling of the War in Iraq. On this morning's Meet The Press with Tim Russert, Representative John Murtha (D-PA) called for the resignations of both Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney for "misdecisions," reports Raw Story
Rep. Murtha Says Rumsfeld and Cheney Should Resign Crooks and Liars has a video excerpt from the interview at this
link.
Elsewhere General John Eaton and William Kristol also demanded Rumsfeld resignation for his inept execution of the Iraq war.
MR. RUSSERT: The president picks up the phone and calls you up, and says "Jack, come on down. You voted for this war, you now think it was a mistake, but we're in a fix. And if I get out right away, we could leave behind a civil war, we could leave behind a haven for terrorism. Tell me specifically Mr. Murtha, what should I do today?"
REP. MURTHA: Here, here's what you should do, Mr. President. First of all, you should fire all the people who are responsible for that, which gives you international credibility.
MR. RUSSERT: Including his secretary of defense?
REP. MURTHA: Well, he, he should--well, let's say he should offer his resignation, because he certainly...
MR. RUSSERT: And it's sure to be accepted?
REP. MURTHA: I would accept it, that's exactly right.
MR. RUSSERT: What about the vice president?
REP. MURTHA: Well, you can't fire the vice president, so I think he'll, he'll have to handle this himself.
MR. RUSSERT: Should he offer his resignation?
REP. MURTHA: Yeah. Well, certainly the vice president has been the primary force in running, running this war, and many of the mischaracterizations have come about. You and I talked before the show about some of the things he said on your show, right before the war started. None of them turned out to be true. This is why the American public is so upset.
OK, I say fire some people, that's the first thing.
MR. RUSSERT: Who should he fire?
REP. MURTHA: Well, he, he, he's got to make that decision himself. Anybody that's been responsible, first of all, for the intelligence-gathering; second of all, for the characterization; and third of all, for the maintaining and running the war. For instance, from the national security office down to the secretary of defense's office. I mean he's got to make that decision.
The full transcript can be read at this link
Yesterday, here at dkos muledriver reported the third anniversary of the "biggest foreign policy blunder since the Vietnam War
The NY Times Speaks the Truth About Iraq...and Rumsfeld
Many who supported the invasion have taken this anniversary to argue that it all would have been worthwhile if things had been run better.... We doubt it. The last three years have shown how little our national leaders understood Iraq, and have reminded us how badly attempts at liberation from the outside have gone in the past. Given where we are now, the question of whether a botched invasion created a lost opportunity might be moot, except for one thing. The man who did the botching, Donald Rumsfeld, is still the secretary of defense.
Chances are that at the time George W. Bush did not have an inkling of how badly he was being served by the decision makers at the Pentagon. But the fact that Mr. Rumsfeld continues to hold his job tells us that Mr. Bush doesn't care, that he prefers living in the same dream world that his secretary of defense inhabits.
Speaking of the secretary of defense the Times anticipated his pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible, courtesy of the Washington Post, and issues a preemptive response:
In their wishful thinking, Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld undoubtedly tell themselves what they tell us: that the Iraqi people are better off than they were under the brutal dictator, that the Iraqi security forces are gradually learning how to take over defense of their own country and that a unified government is still a good possibility....It is hard to quantify relative degrees of misery and pain in these circumstances. But unlike the horrors of Saddam Hussein, the horrors of the present can be laid at America's doorstep..If the mission in Iraq was to create a stable democracy in the heart of the Middle East and inspire neighboring countries to follow the same path, the results have been crushingly bad ...The idea that Iraqi security forces are poised to take over the job of protecting the people in a unified country is almost ludicrous.
Also, in dkos this morning, BarbinMD writes Rumsfeld Versus Zeyad
Today's Washington Post features two stories that offer two viewpoints of Iraq. First, from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:
The rationale for a free and democratic Iraq is as compelling today as it was three years ago.
And from Zeyad, a Baghdad blogger:
Iraqis have lost all hopes for any real justice in this god-awful country. People here have long been accustomed to taking justice into their own hands -- or forgetting it altogether. That is one thing that hasn't changed much.
Rumseld says:
Consider that in three years Iraq has gone from enduring a brutal dictatorship to electing a provisional government to ratifying a new constitution written by Iraqis to electing a permanent government last December.
That's right...close your eyes and picture those purple fingers. Who cares if sectarian violence is escalating, that roving militias are executing men from opposing religious factions and the security arm of the Iraqi Interior Ministry is feared and hated by the Sunnis and the Kurds. After all, they have a Constitution now and we know how important that is.
And what is Zeyad's opinion of his new government?
The new parliament was sworn in today. Our bickering politicians agreed to disagree yet again, and this time it was over the oath.
Quite a testimonial.
Rumsfeld assures us that there are significant gains because the Iraqis are standing up so we can stand down:
Another significant transformation has been in the size, capability and responsibility of Iraqi security forces. And this is vitally important, because it is Iraqis, after all, who must build and secure their own nation.
And how is that working out for the average Sunni?
It's almost 9 p.m., a dangerous time to go outside. Neighborhood watch teams -- young men brandishing AK-47s, pistols, RPGs and even sniper rifles -- set up checkpoints around this time. Many were referred to as the "Mujahideen" or insurgents in the past. Now, they are considered defenders of our predominantly Sunni district against Shiite death squads and militias.
Unlike Rumsfeld and the administration, Zeyad isn't working under the delusion that the new government represents or protects Sunnis and Kurds, as it does the Shi'ites.
Rumsfeld opines that:
Iraqi security forces have a greater ability than coalition troops to detect a foreign terrorist's accent, identify local suspects and use force without increasing a feeling of occupation
And kidshaleen, from dkos, reports that on Fox news this morning Kristol calls for Rummy's resignation
What really caught my attention was when William Kristol discussed Donald Rumsfeld's Washington Post editorial describing the status of the war in Iraq. About a third into his talk he commented that Donald Rumsfeld should be removed from office. Unfortunately I do not have a full transcript of the discussion and the Fox News Sunday web site does not have a transcript either. I will keep looking for the transcript and post it when it is up.
Another crack in this administration's armor. I realize that a lot of time and difference in option has occurred since Rumsfeld, Kristol and others created the PNAC http://www.newamericancentury.org/.... but Kristol calling for Rummy's firing on Fox News Sunday surprised me.
Although, Bill Kristol is still in denial. It seems as if he still thinks his long time advocacy of War in Iraq was still brilliant, but is not angry that Rumsfeld's incompetence has given his an other neocons great ideas as bad idea.
Elise is encouraging us to end more of our diaries with action steps. Here are mine:
Actions Steps
1. Folks, this is one of the most important reasons to keep demanding resignations, firing, indictments, Motions to Censure, impeachments, and accountability in the November and 2008 elections. This many headed Neocon Hydra keeps coming back and will keep resurfacing in we discredit it in every forum and drive an ideological stake through it's heart.
2. We must demand that our Senators on the Armed Services Committee force Rumsfeld to resign or impeach him.
3. We must insist our smartest Democratic and Progressive Foreign Policy theorists articulate the "neolib" political philosophy that is the opposite of the failed neocon disaster.
LOL. Hey, I promised to support Elise's action step orientation but I never said I would make them little steps or thing I would actually do.
I did my part, Now it's time we get the rest of you off your behinds.
Go Team.
"Get er done"
.:-)
And see, I've learned this most important trick from elise about calling others to action steps. Nobody notices I'm still lounging on my sofa eating popcorn, watching TV, and making a lot of suggestions about what all the rest of you should be doing. LOL I wish I would've figured this out earlier. (Elise, maybe you should add a piece mentioning this advantage to your action diary next week. Keep up the good work! LOL)