New Iraqi Stabilization Group -- Bush ditching Rumsfeld/Pentagon?

[RandomUser]

Iraq Shake-up Skipped Rumsfeld

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that he was not told in advance about a reorganization of the Iraq reconstruction, which he heads. He said he still does not know the reason for the shake-up.

Rumsfeld said in an interview with the Financial Times and three European news organizations that he did not learn of the new Iraq Stabilization Group until he received a classified memo about it from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice on Thursday.

Rumsfeld was asked several times why the changes were necessary. "I think you have to ask Condi that question," he said, according to a transcript posted on the Web site of the Financial Times.

Pressed, he said: "I said I don't know. Isn't that clear? You don't understand English? I was not there for the backgrounding."

Rumsfeld's tart remarks offer a window on the tensions among members of President Bush's war cabinet, which are vividly described by administration officials but are rarely visible to outsiders. Rumsfeld's bluntness has occasionally rankled allies and caused headaches for the White House, but Bush is said to remain supportive.

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Rumsfeld said he has not talked to Bush about the changes. When an interviewer said it sounded as though Rumsfeld had not been briefed about the changes before the memo and an interview Rice gave the New York Times, he replied, "That's true."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58726-2003Oct7.html

Sounds like Rummy is on the bad side of Bush today. Bush seems to be taking Iraq away from Rummy/Pentagon and giving it to Rice/NSC. Or am I reading too much into this?

[punpirate]

1. Who's running the group?

Condoleezza Rice.

Not exactly Easter bunnies and fireside story-telling. Nothing more than a distraction, and another pack of lies.

Cheers.