Reasons why Donald Rumsfeld should go -- and now!

by Gerald Plessner

December 30, 2004 - There are two main reasons why Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should resign or be removed. They are also the same reasons why he will never resign or be removed.

Robert Novak's recent commentary raises the right strategic questions, but like so many other right wing supporters of Rumsfeld, he avoids the important fundamental issues. Novak writes that the removal of Rumsfeld will not answer the agonizing questions. "Was the change of regime in Baghdad worth going to war? Could Saddam Hussein have been removed from power by other means? Is the use of U.S. military power to topple undemocratic regimes good policy?"

In deference to Novak's intimacy with Republican power brokers, Let's simplify the issues. The problem with Donald Rumsfeld's leadership is two-fold: ideology and competence. And the reason he will not be sent soon into retirement is that any attack on his ideology or competence is an attack on his co-conspirators and his White House patrons.

Rumsfeld has been close to vice president Dick Cheney since they served together in the Nixon administration. Both have been at the center of the neo-imperial movement since its birth.

The war on Iraq was going to be the cornerstone of their dream of 21st century American world domination. We were going to tell others what to do because we knew best. And even if we didn't know best, we would have the power to enforce our ideas and ideals on a less enlightened, lazy, irreligious, predominately Europe-centered world.

The story of the neo-conservative strategy is spread upon the public record. We wrote about it first on June 21, 2001. You can read that article at:
(www.geraldplessner.com/articles/article.cgi?doc=20020621213358).

This ideology has been developed and promoted by a small clique of right-wing foreign policy wonks. They saw a one super-power world as an opportunity to advance American interests and domination. They used the contrived danger of Saddam Hussien's lethal weapons to take us into a disastrous war against a nation we didn't understand in a part of the world we still barely comprehend.

They sent Paul Wolfowitz to bribe Turkey, the only Islamic country that is our friend, into letting our troops enter Northern Iraq to begin the war. When Wolfowitz's heavy-handed negotiations failed and the free Turkish people forced their democratically elected officials to say 'no', the neo-conservatives condemned Turkey. They now blame the State Department for that failure.

As Seymour Hirsch wrote in his excellent book, Chain of Command, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Perle, Colin Powell(yes, he was on their side) and a few others effected a bloodless coup on American foreign policy. It was an amazing feat with frightening consequences, as the Iraq war failures demonstrate.

To get rid of Rumsfeld would be an indictment by association of Cheney and all the others. It could even result in charges of war crimes. That is why Rumsfeld will not be fired.

Incompetence is the other and more tragic reason for Rumsfeld's removal. From the very beginning, on or about September 12, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld would listen to no one who wanted to help him plan his war.

He dismissed the top generals in the Pentagon, locking some out of top-level war planning meetings and forcing the retirement of those who spoke out.

He refused to let the State Department have any role in planning for a post-war Iraq.

He refused to listen to international agencies with experience in managing post-war chaos in other countries.

He even ordered his emissary to Iraq not to read the State Department reports on how to manage a post-war Iraq.

Intent on redesigning the American military into a fast-strike lightweight force, he created the exact opposite of what was ultimately needed in a postwar Iraq. Against the suggestions of every source with realtime experience, he sent too few people with too little of the right equipment.

Much of the ballooning cost of the war is a result of Rumsfeld's arrogance and incompetence.

What will happen if Rumsfeld is not removed? The war will continue well past 2005, while in the same year Rumsfeld and his neo-colonialist friends will begin justifying incursions into Iran and Syria. The U.S. will continue building permanent bases in Iraq from which they cannot venture because of attacks by Iraqis, and our soldiers and Marines will continue to be killed.

And if a democrat is elected president in 2008, just like Casper Weinberger got from Ronald Reagan, Rumsfeld and some of the others will receive preemptive pardons from the president in January 2006.

About the author: Gerald Plessner is a Southern California businessman who writes regularly on issues of politics and culture. He would be pleased to hear from you and may be contacted at gerald@geraldplessner.com.