Earlier today during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hilary Clinton grilled Rumsfeld. Here is the exchange:
(h/t crooks and liars)
Now the post-morteum of that exchange has lead to Hilary calling for the resignation of Rumsfeld:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Thursday for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, hours after excoriating him at a public hearing over what she said was a “failed policy” in Iraq.
“I just don’t understand why we can’t get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it’s too late,” the New York Democrat told the Associated Press. “I think the president should choose to accept Secretary Rumsfeld’s resignation.”
Clinton confronted Rumsfeld directly on Iraq and Afghanistan earlier in the day, and said his answers left her convinced he should go.
“The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people. It’s time for him to step down and be replaced by someone who can develop an effective strategy and communicate it effectively to the American people and to the world.”
For months, Clinton has resisted joining the chorus of other Democrats demanding Rumsfeld’s ouster. Her remarks Thursday were the harshest assessment yet from the woman considered her party’s early front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination.
I am sure the wingnuts will be quick to jump on this as the politicking game, but is Hilary really that far off base? How can one argue in defense of Rumsfeld when so much has gone wrong? Look at this story, which has been one of the hot news items of the day:
Iraq is caught in the worst sectarian violence yet seen and faces the threat of civil war, two of the United States’ senior generals said on Thursday, three years after the U.S. invasion.
“Sectarian violence probably is as bad as I’ve seen it, in Baghdad in particular,” Army Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command, told a Senate hearing. “If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war.”
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, the most senior U.S. military officer, also said there was a “possibility” of civil war in Iraq, where the violence has claimed about 100 lives a day. Asked whether he would have seen a chance of civil war a year ago, He replied, “No, sir.”
The fact is Hilary is absolutely correct. Rumsfeld has made countless bad decisions on the war and he should be fired immediately. While watching the hearings today, the Republicans sound almost like cheerleaders. They go on and on about what would happen if the insurgents win, but they never address what should be done to insure that does not happen. They refuse to address the strategic blunders and continue to attempt a sugar coat of what is happening. This is costing our country dearly with the blood and lives of American soldiers, on top of bankrupting this nation. Stay the course? Hell no – we need a major change in course because the current course is at a dead end.