The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Army Times to Call for Rumsfeld's Resignation
CNN.com
© November 3, 2006
An editorial to be published Monday in
independent publications that serve the
four main branches of the U.S. military
will call for President Bush to replace
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"Basically, the editorial says, it's clear
now, from some of the public statements that
military leaders are making, that he's lost
the support and respect of the military
leadership," said Robert Hodierne, senior
managing editor for the publications' parent
company Army Times Publications.
"That they're starting to go public with
that now, with their disagreements, added
up with all of the other missteps we believe
he's made, that it's time for him to be
replaced," Hodierne.
Army Times Publications publishes the Army
Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and the
Marine Corps Times.
It is the second time the publications have
called for Rumsfeld to resign.
Bush has maintained that Rumsfeld will stay
on the job until 2008.
In May 2004, when the Abu Ghraib prisoner
abuse scandal broke, an Army Times editorial
said, "This was not just a failure of
leadership at the local command level.
This was a failure that ran straight to
the top. Accountability here is essential,
even if that means relieving top leaders
from duty in a time of war."
The timing of Monday's editorial was prompted
not by midterm elections, scheduled for
Tuesday, but by Bush's statement earlier
this week that he intends to keep Rumsfeld
and Vice President Dick Cheney in their
posts through the end of his term, Hodierne
said.
No one running for midterm elections, he
noted, would have the power to replace Rumsfeld.
Swaying conservative voters "is not our
aim," said Hodierne. "Our aim is simply
to say, for the good of the service, for
the good of the country, it's time for this
guy to go."
Owned by the Gannett Company, Army Times
Publishing is the world's largest publisher
of defense and military-related periodicals,
Hodierne said.
The four weekly newspapers are distributed
in the general stores and commissaries on
military around the world. They have a combined
circulation of about 250,000, he said.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/03/rumsfeld.resign/index.html
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