Roll Call On Rumsfeld
Jim Lobe
April 18, 2006
Jim Lobe is Washington bureau chief for Inter Press Service. Reprinted with permission.
Despite White House efforts to put an end to the controversy, the battle over the fate of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld shows little sign of abating.
And the outcome, which is by no means certain, could well determine the trajectory of U.S. policy in key areas—including Iraq, Iran and even China—through the remaining two and a half years of George W. Bush's presidency.
While the unprecedented calls by six retired generals for his resignation have focused primarily on his competence, management style and strategy for invading and occupying Iraq, Rumsfeld's departure would almost certainly cripple the coalition of neoconservative and aggressive nationalist war hawks in and around the administration for the remainder of Bush's term.
That is why the hawks outside the administration, led by the neoconservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, appear anxious to persuade Bush himself that the current campaign against his defense secretary is really aimed at him.
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