Rummy's on hot seat - Glum memo on war steams White House

NY Daily News ^

[Sir Gawain]

Rummy's on hot seat

Glum memo on war steams White House

By THOMAS M. DeFRANK and RICHARD SISK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld angered the White House yesterday with a leaked memo questioning whether the U.S. was winning the war on terror. "This has put Rummy in a bad spot," one Bush administration source said.

"Before this he had personality and policy problems," the source said. "Now he has a credibility problem because he's acknowledged that they've all been putting on a happy face about Iraq."

It was the latest blow for the beleaguered defense secretary. Earlier this month, the White House switched responsibility for rebuilding Iraq from Rumsfeld to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

"The President isn't happy," but he won't fire Rumsfeld, a Bush official said.

Officials said sacking Rumsfeld would give the appearance of admitting that Iraq is as big a mess as his critics contend.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan, traveling with Bush in Australia, quickly gave a vote of confidence to Rumsfeld. "That's exactly what a strong and capable secretary of defense like Secretary Rumsfeld should be doing," said McClellan.

The Oct. 16 Rumsfeld memo to top Pentagon aides, first disclosed by USA Today, warned of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and openly questioned whether the military can win the global terror war.

He complained about "mixed results" on Al Qaeda and fretted that terrorism was winning recruits faster than the U.S. could kill or capture them.

Rumsfeld also wondered if the Pentagon was capable of beating the terrorists and pressed aides to consider whether "to fashion a new institution" to take over the terror war from the military.

Bush officials told the Daily News the memo has further diminished Rumsfeld's standing at the White House by embarrassing Bush when his Iraq policy is under constant attack by Democrats and even some Republicans.

The News reported on Oct. 10 that Bush is unhappy with Rumsfeld's handling of postwar operations in Iraq and that he will be out of a job if Bush is reelected next November.

While the source of the leak was a prime topic in Washington political corridors yesterday, there was a broad consensus that the leaker was no friend of the embattled defense secretary.

"Rumsfeld has stepped on many toes at the Pentagon," a senior congressional source said, "and this was the revenge of the toes."

Rumsfeld and his top aides defended the memo as the typical internal work product of a hard-charging executive posing tough questions and pressing his staff to think aggressively and make tough choices.

Rumsfeld said he used the memo to urge his aides to "lift our eyes up and look out over the horizon. I do it periodically."

But the pessimistic tone of the memo contrasted with the drumbeat of positive statements from the White House and Pentagon on steady progress in Iraq that allegedly has been overlooked by the body-count reporting of the major media.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the memo "is a little different than the sort of self-assurance that was communicated to us in Congress."

Biden said, "This is the first sort of introspection that I have even whiffed coming out of the civilian side of the Defense Department."

[hobbes1]

More F*ng slop....


I Notice how no one actually PRINTS the note....FCOL.

[Frank_Discussion]

"Rumsfeld has stepped on many toes at the Pentagon," a senior congressional source said, "and this was the revenge of the toes."

Yeah, well, those toes might want to get some woolen socks. If the toes get identified, they might just get that arctic station assignment they were obviously hoping for...

[mattdono]

This tripe has to stop.

This memo was frank. This memo was ballsy. He didn't question the war on terror. He questioned his folks about winning the war on terror.

He was asking if we are killing enough "bad guys". That is his job.

Good leaders ask poignant questions when they don't have to. Good leaders aren't afraid to challenge the talented people that report to them if we really accomplishing what we set out to do, or whether we are making alot of "noise".

I guess it shouldn't be ANY surprise that the media is struggling with honesty. Actually, I guess I should just expect this.

[LibWhacker]

Another extreme leftwing wet dream. Dubya isn't going to sack the man whose success infuriates liberals the most.

[rllngrk33]

I Notice how no one actually PRINTS the note....

If they print the note, people will find out that what the media is saying about the note is all spin.

We can't have people coming to conclusions on their own. </sarcasm.

[GOP_Proud]

My advice to Bush...keep Rummy and fire the leaker...now. Make a point.

[GOP_Proud]

Apparently he was open to looking for a different way of handling it, too.

[My2Cents]

WHO in the White House? Another unnamed source.... We should start sending automatic letters to the editors of papers who cite annoymous sources in their stories. My gut tells me that the Rumsfeld memo was intentionally leaked to kick some bureaucratic butts in Defense and the intelligence agencies. The one thing that will defeat us in the war on terror it's interagency squabbling. I think Rumsfeld's memo was meant to be a wake-up call to bureaucrats who are putting personal and professional interests ahead of the security interests of the nation.

[Semper Paratus]

keep Rummy and fire the leaker

And frog-march him/her out of the Pentagon.

[samtheman]

I do have some problems with this coming out at this time.

But the bottom line is, Bush doesn't surround himself with yes-men.

Rumsfeld is asking tough questions. The DOD is a huge bureaucracy. I'm not surprised it's full of all kinds of counter-productive inertia.

Rumsfeld is fighting against that inertia.

[My2Cents]

annoymous = anonymous...Although "annoy-" seems to fit.

[alnick]

What a bunch of crap! The only named source in this piece is Joe Biden.

[princess leah]

I think this memo will be very historical in its forward-thinking, out-of-the box philosophy...Anyone who really pays attention knows that the State Dept and Pentagon people have this tug-of-war going on and they hate Rummy for his honest, straightforward, no nonsense way of going about business. I too want to know specifically what WHITE HOUSE personnel is unhappy, because frankly I think someone is stirring the pot here!

[hobbes1]

I know I read it yessterday. Rummy should be pissed and whoever leaked should be bounced.

this is not a 'Publics right to know' issue this is someone on the payroll engaged in partisanship.

[Just mythoughts]

I agree overall, except the "bounced" part. Instead of bouncing that LEAKER send them to ditch digging in Iraq. You know "port-a-pottie" holes.

[ysoitanly]

I agree. This was not a press release as the gleeful media is treating it - it was an internal memo, much the same as any internal memo questioning where a certain strategy that isn't going as planned should now go. What I find disturbing is it was 'leaked'.

[onyx]

Unnamed sources carry as much credibility as Katie Couric's "some would say......"

Without invoking unnamed sources, the agenda-driven media would be hard pressed to find legitimate reasons to damage and smear this administration.

[TADSLOS]

"Rumsfeld has stepped on many toes at the Pentagon," a senior congressional source said, "and this was the revenge of the toes."

Find the toes, they'll be the putrid rotting ones left over from the Clinton administration, then cut them off and attach new ones that nod up and down and do your bidding while you march on.

[LibWhacker]

Biden said, "This is the first sort of introspection that I have even whiffed coming out of the civilian side of the Defense Department."

Well, plagiarism stinks to high heaven. And if you are around a plagiarist, or are a plagiarist, you're not likely to smell anything else. If he yearns for another strong odor he can smell over his own overpowering stink, I suggest he go hang out with Ted Kennedy.