Posted on 10/01/2006 11:36:31 PM PDT by MadIvan
The political fallout over claims that the Bush administration was riven by infighting over the Iraq war deepened yesterday when the president's former chief of staff confirmed that he twice sought to sack Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary.
Andrew Card said George W Bush rebuffed his and others' demands to sideline Mr Rumsfeld, who had been accused of mishandling post-war security. The confirmation yesterday triggered talk in Washington that alternative candidates were being sounded out to lead the Pentagon.
The latest bout of speculation began with claims in a new book, State of Denial, by the Watergate journalist Bob Woodward.
Mr Card, who retired in March as chief of staff, backed up key parts of Woodward's book as the White House sought to limit the fallout from its publication before Americans go to polls next month in mid-term elections.
In a television interview, Mr Card revealed that he had kept a notebook while working as Mr Bush's top aide and noted on two separate occasions that he felt that the time was right to dismiss the sometimes abrasive Mr Rumsfeld.
"At least two times I did recommend a change in the position of the secretary of defence, after an election or around a January 1 date," he said. Mr Card recommended that the veteran Republican James Baker take over to improve the prospects of extricating American troops from Iraq.
Mr Card was forced to deny, however, that Laura Bush, the First Lady, had joined him in a campaign against Mr Rumsfeld.
The White House offered strong support yesterday for Mr Rumsfeld who, in December, will become America's longest serving defence secretary. White House counsellor Dan Bartlett said: "We recognise that he has his critics. What President Bush looks to in Secretary Rumsfeld is to bring him the type of information he needs to make the right decisions in this war."
Mr Bartlett led efforts to deride Woodward's claims that Mr Bush had consistently misled Americans with optimistic reports about Iraq. Mr Bartlett said Woodward had reached conclusions that were not supported by his evidence. "The central thesis of this book, that the president was in a state of denial, is not backed up with the facts," said Mr Bartlett.
He rejected an allegation that two months before the September 11 attacks, the then-national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was told by top spies that they had a "sixth sense" that a massive al-Qa'eda onslaught was imminent.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Baghdad, rebuffed the renewed chorus of calls for American troops to withdraw from Iraq because the battle had become a recruiting ground for Islamic terrorists.
"If we leave Iraq before the job is done we will be faced with a problem of global terrorism that will be worse than before," he said.
Separately, a new biography of Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, says that Mr Bush sacked the former general and bluntly rejected his analysis that the war in Iraq had become a failed project.
Powell is a liberal puke.
Don't presume this story is true. Card is on the Laura Ingraham show right now categorically denying this quote.
You know good and well what it meant. I was active duty military under Rummy. I saw the end of his tenure as Gerald Ford's Secretary of Defense and the conditions he left. I also served on active duty all of Carters term except for three months. Many Republicans like to use the term Hollow Carter Military but ignore the fact it was hollow when he took over.
Washington is a stinking hole of partisan backstabbing and over-paid, CYA bureaucrats who think they should run the country, make blood sport of "taking the big guy down," and want their names in books. Their cover is "free speech" and the "public's right to know". Neither the State Dept. nor the Pentagon are immune from the disease.
Add the artful Mr. Woodward. He wrote two very favorable books on the administration -- apparently just enough to gain false confidences. He frames his themes to boost book sales, and voila. The inevitable hit piece.
How some people manage to run a war, a state department, or the CIA for that matter, when you're plagued with the stupid and vainglorious is an amazement.
Probably more on the money that you think.
Glad this a-- is gone, probably had something to do with Laura Bush going to the tv shows to cut us (non-Miers fans) down. I don't know whose idea was this exactly, but I believe he was still there when this took place. Whoever suggested it is an idiot.
Amazing that our President ever trusted this Card.
Yes I did.
The local Boro Assembly has scheduled a special meeting on a resolution to recommend Rumsfeld be sacked. This is incredible that the local gov't, non-partisan by charter, has an interest in national politics.
I thank Card for saying that Mrs. Bush had no part in trying to dismiss Rumsfeld and the Woodward book stated. That was a lie and it should have been exposed for the Woodward truth fantasy that it was..
Forced to deny? It makes it sound like he told that to Woodward and then was forced to deny it. I'd like to know if Woodward claims that Card told him that about Laura, because if he didn't get it from Card, that means that Woodward made it up.
This is evidence of a strange Bush family disease. They put Liberal twerps like Card in positions of power only to see them squeal like pigs when the heat is turned up. He might as well just appoint Democrats and cut out the middle-man.
Powell, and this really surprised me, was a non-supporter of his president while still in office. This became evident in the case of Armitage (trage?) and Plame....as the details came out it appeared that Powell was probably playing political games.
He should have been sacked.
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't everything else Woodward said completely and absolutely WRONG?! Why is everyone so eager to believe that he's telling the truth about Card but nothing else? I think FReepers are incredibly anxious to destroy Andy Card every chance they get and it's really pissing me off.
Thank you!
I read more than one post citing Card's denial on FR this weekend but couldn't find them quickly.
Then, there's the embellishment to that answer...When you do the right things (as a person or a nation) for the right reasons, good things happen. Any other combo doesn't work.
I do believe the Dems double standards on many things lately are proving the second half of my answer ;-) too.
Nope. Rummy is our best Secretary of Defense ever.
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