Sixth General Calls For Rumsfeld's Resignation

List of Defense secretary's critics gets longer

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...tm?POE=NEWISVA

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
Updated 4/13/2006 11:55 PM ET

WASHINGTON — A sixth former general joined the criticism of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday, saying Rumsfeld should resign for mishandling the war in Iraq.

"We need a new secretary of Defense," retired major general Charles Swannack, former commander of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, said on CNN. He said Rumsfeld had micromanaged the war.

Retired major general John Batiste, who commanded the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 agreed. He told USA TODAY on Thursday that Rumsfeld should step down because he ignored sound military advice about how to secure Iraq after Baghdad fell. Batiste first criticized Rumsfeld in a speech last week.

"Sadly, we started something we weren't prepared to finish," Batiste said Thursday, adding that many senior officers shared his feelings on Rumsfeld.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that President Bush "believes Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a very fine job during a challenging period."

The 73-year-old Rumsfeld has weathered calls for his resignation from Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. The new criticism, however, is rare because it comes from inside the ranks of the military.

Swannack and Batiste are the latest additions to the retired generals who have criticized Rumsfeld. They include:

• Marine lieutenant general Greg Newbold, the former Pentagon top operations officer, who called Iraq an "unnecessary war" in a Time magazine column this week.

• Major general Paul Eaton, who was in charge of training Iraqi troops in 2003 and 2004, wrote last month in The New York Times that Rumsfeld is "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically."

• Army major general John Riggs, who told The Washington Post that his former colleagues in the military believe Rumsfeld and his close aides "should be cleared out."

• Marine general Anthony Zinni, the former command of U.S. Central Command and a longtime critic, said Rumsfeld should retire.

Despite Bush's support, such criticism could be enough to help force out Rumsfeld, said Loren Thompson, a military expert at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia think tank.

"It is so uncommon for senior military officers in the United States to criticize civilian leaders that it has to make an impression on the White House and Congress," Thompson said.

However, Kurt Campbell at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said he doesn't "see any sign that the secretary is contemplating stepping down."

Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff disputed the contention that Rumsfeld failed to listen to military leaders. Ruff noted that Rumsfeld had met with the chiefs of the armed services 110 times last year. Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong, Gen. Tommy Franks' deputy during the invasion of Iraq, said Rumsfeld solicited advice from military leaders involved in the fighting. "He listened to those who had information that was important and had the facts to back them up," he said.

Michael O'Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution think tank, said the generals themselves deserve criticism for not making their concerns known during the run-up to the war.

O'Hanlon added that forcing Rumsfeld out would reflect badly on Bush.

"To ask for Rumsfeld to resign is to admit a big, broader mistake," O'Hanlon said. "It ain't going to happen."

Another Defense secretary who served during war, Melvin Laird, has known Rumsfeld for 40 years and said the criticism no doubt hurt.

Laird said that better relations with Congress and senior military officials would probably help Rumsfeld. But Laird, 83, a Republican who served as Defense secretary from 1969 to 1973 during the Vietnam War, didn't think that Rumsfeld would be forced out.

"I don't think this is going to influence him in any way," Laird said.