Rumsfield stepping down?

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I just was putting laundry away and saw on Fox news that rumsfield is stepping down? Boy, the dems move fast…LOL…curious-er and curious-er…
 
I was just about to start a thread too! My gosh, what does this all mean. Hamas declaring a truce over, plans on attacking American interests. Now old Rumsy? Right after a Republican loss? Is it all connected?

Hey, I heard it on Fox too.
 
If it’s true, it may have been in the works for a while. It would make sense that the move would have been held until after the election.
 
apnews.myway.com//article/20061108/D8L91LQ01.html
GOP Says Rumsfeld Is Stepping Down
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Nov 8, 12:58 PM (ET)
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ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//RUMSFELD_RESIGNS.sff_WX105_20061108125423.jpg(AP) Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gestures during a media briefing at the Pentagon in this Oct…
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.
Word came a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.
Earlier today, a spokesman for Rumsfeld said he’d given no indication that he would step down in the wake of Democratic election gains. The spokesman said Rumsfeld would work with Congress on Iraq but added that the focus on stabilizing the country will remain the same. In the days leading up to the election, President Bush said he wanted Rumsfeld to stay on as defense chief until the end of Bush’s second term.
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rlg94086 said:
If it’s true, it may have been in the works for a while. It would make sense that the move would have been held until after the election.
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hopefully gates knows how to kick some butt and quit playing nice/ showing mercy to the enemy
 
Thomas_B said:
He’s taking one of the falls, I’m sure there will be other changes. Ironically, had Bush done before the election- like a month ago, the Republicans probably would have fared better at the polls.
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I believe it was in the works, but Bush was stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. If he fired Rumsfeld within a month before the election, everyone would have said he was doing it to affect the election and maybe even more Dems would have been elected (a suspicious major decision like that would have shown the President’s weakness in believing that the Reps would loose, not good for Rep morale). If Rumsfeld had resigned before the election, the same suspicion would cloud the election. Then again, maybe this happened b/c Rumsfeld (or Bush) wanted to “stick it to” the Reps for their lack of support for his (Bush’s) initiatives in the past years.
 
guardian1 said:
wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52854

reading between the lines, it looks like rumy is taking the fall for the election, or maybe i’m a nutjob
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He’s a sacrifice for the President and the good of the new system coming on line. All of the office swapping and fired leaders in the world won’t fix Iraq. We need to clean house more then our constitution will allow. We need Iraqi units to “do there thing”. I think in the end we need to scale back (operations not presence) gradually just to get Iraqi on Iraqi enforcement going.

-D
 
On September 10, 2001 … shortly after he took over as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld declared war on the Pentagon bureaucracy.

Here are his exact words from the first page of his talk:

Speech
On the web: defenselink.mil/speeches/2001/s20010910-secdef.html

DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff—Bureaucracy to Battlefield

Remarks as Delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon , Monday, September 10, 2001.

[Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics)] Pete Aldridge, Service Secretaries, distinguished officials of the Department of Defense. [Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] General [Richard] Myers, thank you very much for those kind words.

The topic today is an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat, to the security of the United States of America. This adversary is one of the world’s last bastions of central planning. It governs by dictating five-year plans. From a single capital, it attempts to impose its demands across time zones, continents, oceans and beyond. With brutal consistency, it stifles free thought and crushes new ideas. It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk.

Perhaps this adversary sounds like the former Soviet Union, but that enemy is gone: our foes are more subtle and implacable today. You may think I’m describing one of the last decrepit dictators of the world. But their day, too, is almost past, and they cannot match the strength and size of this adversary.

The adversary’s closer to home. It’s the Pentagon bureaucracy. Not the people, but the processes. Not the civilians, but the systems. Not the men and women in uniform, but the uniformity of thought and action that we too often impose on them.

[These are the first few sentences; it goes on from there. Click on the link and read the rest.]

I’ll post the URL link here also.

defenselink.mil/speeches/2001/s20010910-secdef.html

As a result, the Pentagon bureaucracy never forgave him.

If you read “The Generals War” by Gordon & Trainor, you can see for yourself the contempt and hatred that the Pentagon had for him. He wanted bureaucratic change. And they didn’t want to change. They, for example, wanted to keep their 1000 person staffs (which is what the generals did when they took over the war in Afghanistan from the handful of Special Forces troops who spearheaded our efforts there. )
 
Exactly my thoughts. People are assuming he is “taking the fall”, but for all we know he may have approached Bush months ago and been asked to wait.
gmarie21 said:
I believe it was in the works, but Bush was stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. If he fired Rumsfeld within a month before the election, everyone would have said he was doing it to affect the election and maybe even more Dems would have been elected (a suspicious major decision like that would have shown the President’s weakness in believing that the Reps would loose, not good for Rep morale). If Rumsfeld had resigned before the election, the same suspicion would cloud the election. Then again, maybe this happened b/c Rumsfeld (or Bush) wanted to “stick it to” the Reps for their lack of support for his (Bush’s) initiatives in the past years.
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IMHO if this had taken place two weeks ago the elections would have had a different outcome.
 
Richardols said:
He should have been dumped when those active duty generals in Iraq were calling for his resignation.
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Agreed! This most awesome and welcome news! 👍

The Dems take the House, its possible the Senate as well and now this! Its a new dawn in America. The flowers smell fresher and the sun is shining just a bit brighter. Now, the best and most important thing for those who voted to get rid the Gop is to hold to accoount the Dems we put there! Dont make excuses when they screw up (like so many have done for the GOP) point it out and insist they fix it! God is still ansewering prayers with this Rumsfeld news! 🙂
 
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