Bush asks Rumsfeld to Stay On as Defense Secretary,
Despite Record of Human Rights Violations and Gross Abuses of Authority
Commentary
~ December 3, 2004: In another high-profile admission of his
complete disregard for ethical propriety, George Bush has asked
the man who was responsible for gross violations of human rights
to stay in his job as defense secretary.
The move, together with the appointment of Condoleezza Rice as
secretary of state, suggests that Bush has no intention of swaying
from the disastrous policies of his first administration.
The New York Times points out that Rumsfeld, at 72 years
of age, is now both the oldest and the youngest defense secretary
in American history, having held the job almost 30 years ago in
the Ford administration.
The Spokesman Review points out that the United States
is losing the chance to bring democracy to the Middle East, and
much of the responsibility belongs to Rumsfeld. For this and three
other reasons, we believe that Bush’s decision to retain Rumsfeld
is yet another contribution to the destruction of America.
The first reason is the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. Congress
and the world saw 1,800 pictures and videos depicting gruesome Abu
Ghraib interrogation tactics. Other, more recent photos emerged
this week which show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed
prisoners and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one
with a gun to his head. [see related
story]
Newsweek reported that Rumsfeld personally signed off
on brutal interrogation methods used in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba --
methods very similar to those used in Abu Ghraib. The Los Angeles
Times said Pentagon officials claim Iraqi administrator Paul
Bremer was “kicking and screaming” about prison conditions
a year before the photos surfaced. A Red Cross document published
in The Wall Street Journal stated that 70 to 90 percent
of Iraqi detainees are innocent civilians.
The
second reason Rumsfeld is unfit for duty is his complete disregard
for truth. In the book Against All Enemies, former White
House terrorist expert Richard Clarke writes, “Rumsfeld complained
there were no decent targets for bombing in Afghanistan and that
we should consider bombing Iraq, which, he said, had better targets.”
In other words, Rumsfeld wanted targets, not truth.
Third, Rumsfeld has a serious attitude problem. On an October
edition of PBS' “Frontline,” as pointed out in The Spokesman
Review, former Iraq administrator Jay Garner said that looting gutted
17 of 23 government agencies needed for the occupation. Rumsfeld
dismissively said, “Freedom's untidy.”
If and when Bush gets impeached for his gross dereliction of duty,
we hope that Rumsfeld goes down with him. The two of them, together
with the third member of their axis of evil – Dick Cheney
– will go down in history in a chapter listed directly after
that of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Commentary
~ December 3, 2004: In another high-profile admission of his
complete disregard for ethical propriety, George Bush has asked
the man who was responsible for gross violations of human rights
to stay in his job as defense secretary. 
The
second reason Rumsfeld is unfit for duty is his complete disregard
for truth. In the book Against All Enemies, former White
House terrorist expert Richard Clarke writes, “Rumsfeld complained
there were no decent targets for bombing in Afghanistan and that
we should consider bombing Iraq, which, he said, had better targets.”
In other words, Rumsfeld wanted targets, not truth.