Thread: Republican push to oust Rumsfeld

Republican push to oust Rumsfeld

PRESIDENT George W.Bush is facing a damaging split in his party over the future of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as more Republican congressional candidates call for his sacking.
Mr Bush signalled this week his desire for Mr Rumsfeld to stay in the post, saying he and Vice-President Dick Cheney were doing a "fantastic job".

But the Iraq war has become the central theme of the mid-term congressional elections, to be held on Tuesday, causing Republicans to desert Mr Bush.

Democrats look almost certain to take back control of at least one house in Congress and the strength of their showing is being attributed to their attacks on the Bush administration over its handling of Iraq.

Now, more than half a dozen Republican candidates in tight races against Democrats are calling on Mr Bush to fire Mr Rumsfeld, while still more are distancing themselves from the Iraq war.

Polls indicated this week that approval in the US for Mr Bush's handling of the Iraq war had fallen to 29 per cent - its lowest level in his presidency.

"We need a change in direction," said Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker, in the conservative southern state of Tennessee. "If we're going to bring in a change in Iraq, maybe it is time to look at a change in leadership at secretary of defence."

Mr Corker's more vocal criticism of the administration and the war has coincided with a stronger showing in the polls this week as he pulls ahead of Democrat Harold Ford.

In Ohio, Anne Northup, a Republican congresswoman struggling in her re-election bid, said: "I don't want to depend on the same team, meaning Rumsfeld."

In New Jersey, Tom Kean, a Republican Senate candidate, trailing his Democrat opponent but still with a chance to win, has also distanced himself from Mr Bush and Iraq. A spokeswoman for Mr Kean said Mr Bush's support for Mr Rumsfeld this week was disappointing.

"We feel Iraq is on the verge of chaos and a new secretary of defence is needed if we are to change the direction and implement tactical changes," she said.

And in campaigning in the past fortnight, senator George Allen, a Virginia Republican who had been tipped as a presidential contender, said the US had to change its policy in Iraq. "We cannot continue to do the same things and expect different results," he said.

Senator Allen, whose political stumbles while campaigning for this election appear to have wrecked any 2008 presidential ambitions, fell behind in the polls this week for the first time. He has a formidable opponent in Jim Webb, a decorated Vietnam veteran and a former Republican who has a son serving in Iraq. He is also a trenchant critic of the Iraq war.

Pressure on Mr Rumsfeld to step down also picked up this week with the leak of a US military chart showing that Iraq was sliding into "chaos".

Democrats, and some respected retired generals, have been calling for Mr Rumsfeld to resign.

A typically combative Mr Rumsfeld challenged the media this week to "back off" when asking about deadlines for a handover of security to the Iraqis.

"You ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it's complicated, it's difficult," Mr Rumsfeld said. "Honourable people are working on these things together. There isn't any daylight between them."

Some critics argue that Mr Bush probably wants Mr Rumsfeld to stay in the position because he draws the heat on the mistakes made on Iraq, shielding Mr Bush and the White House.

Mr Rumsfeld will next month overtake Robert McNamara, who was in charge of the Pentagon during much of the Vietnam War, as the longest-serving defence secretary.

Meanwhile, Mr Bush has a frantic travel schedule until Tuesday as he tries to save the Republican Party from a rout in the elections. "We've been through this before," he said yesterday in Billings, Montana. "We will win the Senate and we will win the house."

The pre-election flight plan for Air Force One consisted of areas where Republicans are in trouble -- house seats in Colorado, rural Nevada and Kansas, and state governor races in Arkansas, Iowa and Nevada, as well as senator Conrad Burns's bid for a fourth Senate term in Montana.

He will also visit Western Nebraska to try and save a house seat that the Democrats last held 50 years ago.

Democrats must pick up 15 seats to gain control of the house. Respected pundits such as Charlie Cook predict they will pick up at least 20. He also gave them an even chance of gaining the six seats needed to win the Senate.