November 08, 2006
Rumsfeld Resigns
Catching it on Drudge and Rush, and will expect to hear confirmation in Bush's press conference momentarily.
Will update...
Confirmed. Rumfeld was on his way out prior to the election, and our new nominee for Secretary of Defense is Bob Gates, currenty the President of Texas A&M. Bush said that Gates had met with him in Crawford this past Sunday, where I understand he was offered the position. He is the only career officer in the CIA's history to rise from an entry-level employee to the directorship. Gates had previously declined the Director of National Intelligence position now filled by John Negroponte. I'm sure we'll hear more about him in the days ahead, but I simply don't know enoughabout him to know what kind of Secretary he may be at this point.
Mary Katharine has more.
Update: Austin Bay reports that an officer he knows thinks that Rumsfeld's resignation sets the stage for more aggressive action against the terrorists.
That is an interesting hypothesis. If the key issue of the mid-terms for voters was dissatisfaction with the prosecution of the war in Iraq, then a "new direction" could well come in the form of more aggressive, targeted, and tangible offensive operations.
It will be interesting to see if this is indeed the path taken.
I understand the President has also just announced that he's renaming the Department of Defense, which will heretofore be known as the Department of Appeasement, and is replacing the Joint Chiefs with borrowed French officers.
I've disagreed with some of Rumsfelds policies but the way this went down sucks big time.
Posted by: Bill Faith at November 8, 2006 02:11 PMGates is already being targeted by the far left for a supposed role in Iran-Contra.
Posted by: Ken at November 8, 2006 02:52 PMBill:
That is not fair. From what I understand Gates has a very distinguished history and has worked with four different presidents, he is not a lightweight and there is no reason to believe he will appease anything. Rumsfeld is an old man, maybe he is tired and he wanted out.
Perhaps Bush is trying to restore confidence, whatever you can count on the fact that Gates will take a load of crap during confirmation.
Posted by: Terrye at November 8, 2006 03:29 PMGates brings three things to the job:
He is an excellent administrator.
He is an expert on Iran.
He is an expert on nuclear weapons.
Just sayin'
Posted by: Max at November 8, 2006 07:47 PM"Update: Austin Bay reports that an officer he knows thinks that Rumsfeld's resignation sets the stage for more aggressive action against the terrorists."
I agree. Though far removed from the halls of power, I've suspected that it was Rumsfeld who was pushing the "Iraqi-ization" policy towards the Shi'i militias and forbidding Americans from dealing with them themselves. There was an article in last week's Army Times in which senior officers were hinting at their irritation at not being allowed to smash Sadr and his ilk.
Posted by: Dawnfire82 at November 8, 2006 09:00 PMGATES SHOULD REMINDS LEFTIES THAT REAGAN AIDED IRAN - AND NOT IRAQ DURING THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR.
But that's the only good thing he brings beside extrem knowledge of the clandestine aspects of warfare. and we are also fighting a cladestine wa against neojihadism - all over the world.
but i am disheatened by the fact that he is a james Baker kinda guy.
we don;t need to accommodate the enemy - as he did china after tiannamen. and elsewhee.
if bush had let israel destroy hizballah then the GOP would have won.
but bush has ceded to the rice/baker. and now gates accomodationists. i fear.
this does not bode well for our impending crises in Korea and Iran.
it means we will not pressure them, and syria more, but less.
it means more pressure on israel, too.
more chamberlianesque policies.
which always fail.
if we survive that failure, then perhaps the m,sm and the left will join our side.
but i doub t it.
they are 9/10 people in a 9/12 world.
Posted by: reliapundit at November 8, 2006 09:39 PMI don't think the approach to the war will change. It has now taken on all the ear marks of Vietnam with the limits placed on targets and allowing the enemy to use our soldiers as predictable targets. In short, we need to begin hurting alot more people.
But this chage in leadership might be more of a political move. I don't know much about Gates but be will now have to be approved by a Democratic congress. Thus they are giving approval to the ultimate administrator of the war. As such they take the responsibility for any difficulty. Seems like more of a chess move than a real change.
