Rumsfeld resigns

DMC

CNN tv reporting...

is_that_so

There is a God so. These last two days have been good for the world.

DMC

AP: WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a key target of Iraq war critics, is stepping down, Republican officials said on Wednesday.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15622266/

is_that_so

on BBC News now

bonkey

It was more or less a given, once the Dems took either of the Houses. Having said that, it happened a bit sooner than I expected.

flogen

Wowza.... I knew it was coming, but I thought the administration wouldn't have given the Dems the satisfaction of getting rid of him after the election, thought they'd hold him until the new year and get him to resign on "personal" grounds...

Good riddance, let's hope his successor will have the ability to change things, although it will take time.

lostexpectation

will his replacment be any better ?

he should have been fired after abu gharib??


can he still be called to acount, investigated to the same degree?

Robert Gates former cia director is replacement, wonder what he is like

cooker3

I believe he offered to resign twice before but Bush refused it both times.
I guess last nights results changed his mind.

flogen

lostexpectation wrote:

will his replacment be any better ?

he should have been fired after abu gharib??


can he still be caleld to acount, investigated to the same degree?

Good point, if he can be investigated it's an easy target for the Dems; they can go for him without being blamed for damaging the administration and their progress.

A Dub in Glasgo

I will only applaud when the headline reads, 'Rumsfeld jailed'

cooker3

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

I will only applaud when the headline reads, 'Rumsfeld jailed'

lol, you will be waiting for a while.

flogen

cooker3 wrote:

I believe he offered to resign twice before but Bush refused it both times.
I guess last nights results changed his mind.

I think he offered to step down before the 2004 election; not sure when else.

constitutionus

gotta give the yanks one thing, theyre quick. if this was in ireland he'd brass neck it out till he was fired. nice to see the senate is now hanging on virginia's result too. hopefully this means america getting back to the country it used to be.

GuanYin

The major player in anti-stem cell research falls.

Happy Days!

lostexpectation

flogen wrote:

Good point, if he can be investigated it's an easy target for the Dems; they can go for him without being blamed for damaging the administration and their progress.

I was actually saying it would be harder to pin down Rumsfeld and changes if he isn't in a position any more.

Gates is part of the Baker Iraq Study Group, I wonder if he was the person Daddy bush was trying to get as replacement.

I think the problem now is with the dems we continue to get US hegemony just last blatently

The ISG is the mechanism for a course correction that has the agreement of both senior Republicans and Democrats and seeks to remove Iraq from political debate. Its co-chair is James Baker III, a prominent member of the Reagan administration and the secretary of state under President Bush’s father. In the September edition of the Washington Monthly, sources told journalist Robert Dreyfuss that “Baker is primarily motivated by his desire to avoid a war at home—that things will fall apart not on the battlefield but at home. So he wants a ceasefire in American politics”.

Baker’s central involvement has provided reassurance to the White House that a Congress-backed review of Iraq policy would seek to assist, not threaten, the administration.

bonkey

Watching the Bush press-conference at the moment.

He's clearly not a happy camper, and the press seem to have suddenly recovered some of their teeth. Not all, but some.

mike65

Not a suprise really, gives Bush the chance to forge cross-party consensus with the James Baker report due by end of year.

Oops lostexpectation beat me to it!

Mike.

constitutionus

bonkey wrote:

Watching the Bush press-conference at the moment.

He's clearly not a happy camper, and the press seem to have suddenly recovered some of their teeth. Not all, but some.

just finished watching that on sky news myself. yeah ,he's not happy at all. makes a change to see him being grilled for once and he's practically snapping out journalists names when changing subjects. should be fun times ahead at these confrences in future

Did you notice how a few times,he ran off into a 5 minute monologue as if the secret radio pumping his ear with stuff to say was getting better reception.

nacho libre

lostexpectation wrote:

I think the problem now is with the dems we continue to get US hegemony just last blatently

yes. The differences between the two are merely cosmetic. Many People on both sides of the Atlantic will now believe U.S Foreign policy will change fundamentally.

mr_disc

He did offer his resignation to Bush twice before, but they wanted him to stay ( for some reason ).

If you watch him talking next time he has a funny expression on his face ... like he is looking for his keys or something !

Manic Moran

A comment about horses and stable doors comes to mind.

NTM

jank

Rove will be next, maybe even the Dick Cheney after

cooker3

jank wrote:

Rove will be next, maybe even the Dick Cheney after

Not a chance in hell will rove or cheney go.

Something I read today which I found amusing is that Rumsfeld is youngest and oldest man to be secretary of defence, impressive

bug

The major player in anti-stem cell research falls.

Happy Days!

Its fab.
what c.v.'s are we looking at for his replacement?

can anyone project when the recount for the virginia seat in senate will be done?

jank

cooker3 wrote:

Not a chance in hell will rove or cheney go.

Something I read today which I found amusing is that Rumsfeld is youngest and oldest man to be secretary of defence, impressive

I dont know about that. Even republicans seem to want these 2 to go so that there is a clean slate for 2008. They all want to converge to the centre and ahaving those 2 in power will not endeer them to the Dems. Myself would doubt if cheney goes but rove will be a goner by the new year.

Hobbes

tbh Rumsfeld pissed off a lot of high ranking military by not allowing the generals to do thier jobs then blaming them on the failures. My guess is the Democrats where already talking to the military on "whats the best solution for Iraq" and he was the first choice.

jank wrote:

Rove will be next, maybe even the Dick Cheney after

I believe for Rove it has to be a sold silver stake blessed by 20 liberal virgins and straight through the heart. So no luck there.

cooker3

jank wrote:

I dont know about that. Even republicans seem to want these 2 to go so that there is a clean slate for 2008. They all want to converge to the centre and ahaving those 2 in power will not endeer them to the Dems. Myself would doubt if cheney goes but rove will be a goner by the new year.

You don't get rid of a vice president unless something major happens and I mean watergate type major, the only way Cheney goes is if his health gets the best of him, as for Rove well he is not an elected official, nor is he is the cabinet, he is just Bushes advisor, Bush will never ever get rid of him unless he absolutely has to which he doesn't.

Frederico

I was flicking between BBC, ITV, SKY etc last night.. I could see that the journalists were absolutely ecstatic that Rumsfeld was gone.. they all had their little montages ready, and they really did make him out to be a crazy old right wing man whos completely lost touch with reality..

This is the first good news after 5 years of frustration.. aahhh..

sovtek

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

I will only applaud when the headline reads, 'Rumsfeld jailed'

I will too but wont be content till the whole cabal is tried and convicted.

Kaylee

lostexpectation wrote:

will his replacment be any better ?

According to Robert Hodierne (Army Times Publishing company) on Morning Ireland this morning, Robert Gates is Rumsfeld in a different suit - and a close personal friend of the Bush family.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1109/morningireland.html

flogen

jank wrote:

I dont know about that. Even republicans seem to want these 2 to go so that there is a clean slate for 2008. They all want to converge to the centre and ahaving those 2 in power will not endeer them to the Dems. Myself would doubt if cheney goes but rove will be a goner by the new year.

Well obviously Cheney will have nothing to do with the 2008 campaign; Rove may pull of an Alister Campbell and announce his resignation from the job, only to pop up again as an "adviser" for the next election.

cooker3

Frederico wrote:

I was flicking between BBC, ITV, SKY etc last night.. I could see that the journalists were absolutely ecstatic that Rumsfeld was gone.. they all had their little montages ready, and they really did make him out to be a crazy old right wing man whos completely lost touch with reality..

It's always good to see some impartial journalism!

RedPlanet

ACLU has called for Rumsfeld to be investigated.

Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation is a step in the right direction," said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director. "Rumsfeld is responsible for the torture and abuse of detainees in U. S. military custody and must be held accountable for the failures that occurred on his watch. He has placed the blame on junior military members and has been nothing but derelict in his duty. Congress must initiate an immediate and exhaustive investigation into his six-year-long record of unlawful activity, violations of the rule of law and complicity in the executive branch abuse of power."

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/27325prs20061108.html

Right on, lets get the ball rolling.

sovtek

Kaylee wrote:

According to Robert Hodierne (Army Times Publishing company) on Morning Ireland this morning, Robert Gates is Rumsfeld in a different suit - and a close personal friend of the Bush family.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1109/morningireland.html

This is true...he was also involved with the Iran Contra scandal. I'm surprised that it even happened. I would never expect Bush to replace him with a fair and objective person, much less competant.
However the fact that the congressional elections have obviously forced Bush's hand is a positive thing. I'm slightly more optimistic right now because of it. We'll see what happens.

J.S. Pill

sovtek wrote:

This is true...he was also involved with the Iran Contra scandal.

I think his 'involvement' amounted to knowing what was going on a few months before the rest of the world did - he was hardly running gun boats over himself.

Me, I'll miss old Rummy. Afterall he did give us this:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/27/rumsfeld.flt93/

I hope he enjoys life after the Pentagon, maybe he can go on a few Hunting trips with Dick Cheney...

Hobbes

J.S. Pill wrote:

I hope he enjoys life after the Pentagon, maybe he can go on a few Hunting trips with Dick Cheney...

I forget who said it but I believe he is going home to his wife to spend some time invading her.

sovtek

J.S. Pill wrote:

I think his 'involvement' amounted to knowing what was going on a few months before the rest of the world did - he was hardly running gun boats over himself.

Me, I'll miss old Rummy. Afterall he did give us this:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/27/rumsfeld.flt93/

I hope he enjoys life after the Pentagon, maybe he can go on a few Hunting trips with Dick Cheney...

Yeah he was in the office when North and others were discussing it..but couldn't recall what was said. Maybe he wasn't running gun boats, but he was involved in training the Contras on hitting "soft targets" ...otherwise known as killing civilians.
I doubt the families of 655,000 Iraqis will miss him.

Lirange

Let's celebrate with some Potent Quotables!

"It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." - Rummy in Feb. 2003

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." - Rummy 2003

"Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." - Rummy 2004

"Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said." - Rummy 2004

"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." - Rummy 2005

"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said." - Rummy

cooker3

Lirange wrote:

Let's celebrate with some Potent Quotables!

"It is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in Iraq] will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." - Rummy in Feb. 2003

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." - Rummy 2003

"Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." - Rummy 2004

"Well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, I suppose, as Shakespeare said." - Rummy 2004

"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." - Rummy 2005

"Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said." - Rummy

haha, some nice ones there, that gave me a laugh

Black Swan

jank wrote:

maybe even the Dick Cheney after

Naaaaa, he was elected not appointed. Now if the Dems investigate the relationship between him, the Halliburton Corporation, and Iraq, then he could be impeached. Dems don't take office until January, so after that we will see...

RedPlanet

Group Sues to Have Rumsfeld Investigated

BERLIN Nov 14, 2006 (AP)— Civil rights activists filed suit Tuesday asking German prosecutors to open a war crimes investigation of outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a host of other U.S. officials for their alleged roles in abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay.

The 220-page document was sent to federal prosecutors by U.S. and German attorneys under a German law that allows the prosecution of war crimes regardless of where they were committed. It alleges that Rumsfeld personally ordered and condoned torture.

"One of the goals has been to say a torturer is someone who cannot be given a safe haven," said Michael Ratner, the president of New York's Center for Constitutional Rights, which is behind the litigation.

They'll never get him i'm sure, but why not make his life difficult anyway.