Free Dartmouth
 
  home  
  join
Why Was Rumsfeld's Resignation Delayed Until After The Election?
11/09/2006 01:14:00 AM | Justin

...and how many americans have died for it?

I apologize if ridiculing Bush for Rumsfeld's untimely resignation seems hackneyed by now, but it's just too disturbing to ignore: My question is how anyone can see the timing of the resignation (or the conviction of saddam for that matter) as anything less than politically motivated. Just a few days ago, Bush said himself that Rumsfeld would resign under no circumstances. But the man who professes most often not to pay attention to polls claims to have rethought his position on Rumsfeld. Most of the country has been begging for Rumsfeld's resignation for years now over the failure in Iraq, which Bob Woodward and countless others argue is largely attributable to Rumsfeld's unwillingness to listen to military professionals in framing military policy. Bush has made it clear that the decision to replace Rumsfeld was made some time before the election, but that it was postponed so as not to effect the election.

I fully support Bush's decision to finally accept reality and fire the people who really deserve it, but I want to know why it wasn't done sooner; in the interest of our troops on the ground, and the war on terror, isn't it best to fire people as soon as it becomes apparent that they are incompetent, rather than waiting until it's politically expedient to do so? Anything less is just plain irresponsible, and a shirk of the man's duty as war time president. I am more disgusted by this then I've been at anything Bush has done since he invaded Iraq in the first place!



5 Comments:

I imagine Rumsfeld resigned now instead of a month or two ago to avoid political problems, yes, but it didn't affect the number of dead Americans (or Iraqis, which is just as important). Remember, Congress has been out of session for awhile, and Rummy has to hang around until his replacement is confirmed. Now, if they put this off six months, it might be a different story. But I doubt they knew six months ago he'd be quitting so soon.

By Blogger Nathan Empsall, at 1:15 AM  

I don't think this resignation is something that's been a serious option for just a month or two. People have been calling for it with increasing volume almost since the war began. Even military generals have been calling for it for at least 6 months.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/13/the-chorus-grows-another-general-calls-for-rumsfelds-resignation/

By Blogger Justin, at 9:43 PM  

I also think its reasonable to conclude that keeping a SecDef in office after it's known that he is underperforming is irresponsible. It's agreed that the evidence of his underperformance is the number american and iraqi lives lost in Iraq. So the longer you keep him on, the more lives that are lost.

By Blogger Justin, at 9:51 PM  

By "serious option," I mean realistic option to Bush. I doubt he considered it too long ago.

As to what you say about it being irresponsible keeping Rumsfeld on for so long after his lousy performance, that I agree with. But it's a different kind of irresponsible than doing it for election reasons. Woodward says Bush didn't want to change horses in midstream, so to speak, with so much going in Iraq. He valued stability (ha!) over better leadership. Stupid decision, but it was what it was.

By Blogger Nathan Empsall, at 10:11 PM  

On this general subject:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110901817.html

By Blogger Nathan Empsall, at 11:23 PM  

Post a Comment

Dartmouth
The Free Press

Alums for Social Change
The Green Magazine
The Dartmouth
Dartmouth Observer
Dartmouth Review
Dartlog
Inner Office
The Little Green Blog
Welton Chang's Blog
Vox in Sox
MN Publius (Matthew Martin)
Netblitz
Dartmouth Official News

Other Blogs
Ampersand

Atrios
Arts & Letters
Altercation
Body and Soul
Blog For America
Brad DeLong
Brad Plumer
CalPundit
Campus Nonsense
Clarksphere
Crooked Timber
Cursor
Daily Kos
Dean Nation
Dan Drezner
The Front Line
Instapundit
Interesting Times
Is That Legal?
Talking Points Memo
Lady-Likely
Lawrence Lessig
Lean Left
Left2Right
Legal Theory
Matthew Yglesias
Ms. Musings
MWO
Nathan Newman
New Republic's &c.
Not Geniuses
Ornicus
Oxblog
Pandagon
Political State Report
Political Theory Daily Review
Queer Day
Roger Ailes
SCOTUS blog
Talk Left
TAPPED
Tacitus
This Modern World
Tough Democrat
Untelevised
Volokh Conspiracy
Washington Note
X. & Overboard

Magazines, Newspapers and Journals
Boston Globe Ideas
Boston Review
Chronicle of Higher Education
Common Dreams
Dissent
In These Times
Mother Jones
New York Review of Books
New York Times
Salon
Slate
The American Prospect
The Nation
The New Republic
The Progressive
Tikkun
Tom Paine
Village Voice
Washington Monthly

Capitol Hill Media
ABC's The Note
American Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
CQ
Daily Howler
Donkey Rising
The Hill
Medianews
National Journal
NJ Hotline
NJ Wake-up call
NJ Early Bird
NJ Weekly
Political Wire
Roll Call
Spinsanity

Search
Search the DFP

www.blogwise.com
Powered by Blogger

The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Dartmouth College or the Dartmouth Free Press.