[what's up]

It would have cost the President no political capital whatsoever to offer public support for his Secretary of Defense

Oh, for Heaven's sake...Pres. Bush did this literally hundreds of times over the last 6 years...where have you been?

There has been no President more loyal toward a Defense secy...and remember that Rummy was the longest serving in US history, due in no small part to Bush's steadily standing for him thru attack after attack.

[andy58-in-nh]

You are right - the President did offer support for Donald Rumsfeld on many occassions. He just failed to do so at a time when it was most needed. Our failure in Iraq (and let's not mince words here) is due to a lack of will and manpower, and for that the SecDef is penultimately responsible. Ultimately, though, the responsibility lies with the President, and that is why George Bush ought to have supported Donald Rumsfeld even while letting him go. He should have admitted that our military failures were due to his own misplaced faith in the Pentagon's strategic planning, which depended on too much technology and too few boots.

We screwed up in Iraq and need to admit it now in order to make it right before the Democrats have a chance to memorialize and make permanent our defeat. And mark my words, they will, because there's nothing that Liberals love more than American defeat and impotence. I saw it in Vietnam and I see it here. We can still triumph - but our President needs to communicate that message every day, because the stakes are much, much higher this time.