[[L E A D E R S H I P]] * Even as Donald Rumsfeld was making a well-covered but unannounced visit yesterday to beleaguered Baghdad, alongside Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calls for the defense secretary’s resignation were making the rounds again. Only the demand this time doesn’t come from a retired general (eight of whom have recently agreed that a change of Pentagon leadership is needed). No, this time it’s military personnel insisting that the seemingly endless and deadly course of George W. Bush’s Iraq war is sufficient reason for Rumsfeld’s prompt removal.As of this morning, a poll conducted by ArmyTimes.com shows 64 percent of respondents saying they’ve had enough of Rumsfeld’s ostensible guidance. Thirty-two percent contend that his missteps in prosecuting the three-year-old Iraq conflict are grounds for him to resign, with less than 4 percent saying they don’t know, or have no opinion on his future. As Raw Story points out, there’s no way to know precisely how many of this poll’s respondents are active or retired U.S. military personnel. However, ArmyTimes.com, which is produced by MilitaryTimes Inc., makes a big deal in its advertising come-on about how the various MilitaryTimes publications now reach “72% of the active duty military market.” So it’s likely that the vast majority of folks participating in this survey have had or do have a military connection of some sort, and are therefore in the habit of checking the offerings at ArmyTimes.com.
Not that objections from the men and women in the line of fire will ever convince Dubya, back in his cozy White House bubble, that he and Rummy have screwed up in Iraq ...
READ MORE: “More Top Brass Blast Rumsfeld,” by Mark Follman (Salon); “Treading Water and Losing Support on Iraq,” by Steve Soto (The Left Coaster); “Just Asking …,” by Christy Hardin Smith (FireDogLake)
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