Rumsfeld resigns as secretary of defense
Wednesday, November 8, 2006(The Salt Lake Tribune wire services)
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, unable
to fulfill U.S. goals in the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan during his tenure, is stepping
down, President George W. Bush said today.
Bush named former
Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert M.
Gates as his choice to replace Rumsfeld at the
Pentagon. Gates was head of the U.S. spy agency
under Bush's father, former President George
H.W. Bush.
"Secretary
Rumsfeld and I agreed the time is right for new
leadership at the Pentagon," Bush said at a
White House news conference. "I'm deeply
grateful for his service to our country."
Rumsfeld, 74, oversaw
the global fight against terrorism that
followed the Sept. 11 attacks. A casualty of
the American public's growing conviction that
U.S. policy in Iraq is a dismal failure,
Rumsfeld's stewardship of the war is likely to
be his foremost legacy.
In yesterday's congressional elections,
Democrats took over the House and are within
one seat of controlling the Senate in part
because of public dissatisfaction with the
course of the war in Iraq. The Democratic
leaders in the House and Senate, Nancy Pelosi
and Harry Reid, both have called for Rumsfeld's
ouster. Republican Senator John McCain of
Arizona also has said he had no confidence in
Rumsfeld.
A brusque and
energetic management style, zeal to transform
the military and unwillingness to admit
mistakes made Rumsfeld one of Bush's most
controversial Cabinet members. Criticism began
soon after Rumsfeld's appointment in early
2001, much of it stemming from his fight to
streamline the Army and Marines and reorganize
the Pentagon.
Conflict
His decision to shift
focus and troops to Iraq from Afghanistan is
increasingly drawing criticism as Taliban
insurgents and their al-Qaeda regain strength
in the Central Asian nation. At the same time,
Iraq has been hit by a surge in sectarian and
insurgent violence.
"To
our enemies do not be joyful," Bush said. "Our
nation is committed to bringing you to
justice."
Bush
previously has defended the defense secretary
and said he wanted him to stay in the job.
Democrats were quick
today to call the election a mandate to change
the U.S. course in Iraq.
"Nowhere was the call for a new direction more
clear from the American people than in the war
in Iraq," Pelosi said today. "We know that
stay-the-course is not working, has not made
our country safer, it has not honored our
commitment to our troops and it has not brought
stability to the region. We must not continue
on this catastrophic path."
The death toll of U.S.
military personnel in Iraq since the March 2003
invasion stood at 2,836 as of today, and more
than 21,572 have been wounded, according to
Pentagon figures.
--- By
Richard Keil and Brendan Murray, Bloomberg
News