Sunday, Dec 19, 2004
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By Suzanne Goldenberg
WASHINGTON, DEC. 18. The U.S. Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is at the centre of a Republican firestorm over his handling of the war in Iraq, with pressure appearing to mount in Washington for him to quit. Although Republicans have publicly stood by the U.S. President, George W. Bush's decision to go to war throughout the growing death toll among U.S. troops and spiralling violence on the ground, the acerbic Pentagon chief has become a focus of anxieties about the conduct of the war and about the future of Iraq. Unease about Mr. Rumsfeld reached critical proportions when the former Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, told businessmen in Mississippi that the Defence Secretary should be replaced in the new year.
Withering attack
Mr. Lott is from the centre of the Republican party, and was a powerful figure until forced to step down as Senate leader in 2002. ``I am not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld,'' he told the Biloxi chamber of commerce. ``I do not think he listens enough to his uniformed officers.'' He added: ``I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year or so.'' Earlier this week, Mr. Rumsfeld was the object of a withering attack by the editor of the Weekly Standard, the in-house organ of the neo-conservative movement, accusing him of ``arrogant'' buckpassing. ``Surely Don Rumsfeld is not the Defence Secretary Bush should want to have for the remainder of his second term,'' said William Kristol. Last spring, at the height of the scandal over the Abu Ghraib prison abuse, Mr. Bush resisted calls for Mr. Rumsfeld to stand down. He reaffirmed his faith in the man after his re-election victory, keeping him on as Pentagon chief, and it is unlikely that the White House will want to signal a change of heart before Iraq holds elections next month. ``The President believes Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a great job, and that is why he asked him to continue serving during this time of war,'' said the White House spokesman, Scott McLellan. But the latest crisis over his temperament and management style may prove difficult to brush off, when many Republicans are wondering aloud how U.S. troops are going to manage to stabilise Iraq in the coming months. Mr. Rumsfeld's critics in Congress are on their way home for the holidays, where they will meet families of soldiers serving in Iraq who are outraged by duty-tour extensions made necessary by troop shortages, and by complaints of lack of armour and weaponry on trucks and other ``soft'' vehicles used by support troops who face guerrilla attacks unforeseen by Pentagon planners.
Rebuked
On Thursday, Mr. Rumsfeld was rebuked by a member of the Senate armed services committee, the moderate Republican Susan Collins, over the Pentagon's failure to provide sufficient armoured Humvees. The latest crisis to enfold Mr. Rumsfeld was provoked by his airy response last week to a member of the Tennessee National guard who complained about having to forage in scrap heaps for armour for Humvees. Mr. Rumsfeld replied that countries go to war with the army they have, ``not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'' — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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