House Democrats Seek Rumsfeld's Ouster

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday accused Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of a cover-up in the scandal over abused Iraqi prisoners and said he should resign.

 

"I think that Mr. Rumsfeld should step down," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California told reporters. "Mr. Rumsfeld has been engaged in a cover-up from the start on this issue," she said.

 

Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, echoed her call. "For the good of our country, the safety of our troops and our image around the globe, Secretary Rumsfeld should resign. If he does not resign forthwith, the president should fire him," he said.

 

Top Republicans in the House dismissed the resignation calls, and most lawmakers said it was too early to fix blame for the abuses.

 

Rumsfeld was to testify on Friday before the Senate Armed Services Committee in an appearance at which some lawmakers said his job could be in the balance.

 

Asked if Rumsfeld should resign, Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said: "I think it will be determined on his testimony. We ought to listen to him."

 

"I think the overall issues, obviously, are the issues of accountability and responsibility and the extent of all of this," Kennedy said. "Is this the tip of the iceberg or the whole thing?"

 

A Senate Republican aide said Rumsfeld must "give the performance of his life," and show contrition.

 

"He needs to have full disclosure of the facts, no parsing of words or displaying the usual convoluted testimony that the Senate Armed Services Committee has been accustomed to," the Republican aide said.

 

House Majority leader Tom Delay, a Texas Republican, and several other House Republicans defended Rumsfeld and accused the Democrats of trying to politicize the war.

 

"Calling for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation is as bad a signal as saying the war in unwinnable," DeLay told reporters.

 

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stopped just short of calling for Rumsfeld's dismissal on Wednesday. "If it goes all the way to Rumsfeld then he should resign," Biden told NBC's "Today" show.

 

At a news conference Pelosi criticized the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq military campaign and discussed the international furor after photographs emerged last week showing sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in a jail outside Baghdad.

Did Rumsfeld give the orders to have this done? Whatever the answer to that question is, is my answer.

Did Rumsfeld give the orders to have this done?  Whatever the answer to that question is, is my answer.

So you reject any chain of command, buck stops here, type of arguments?

 

I think I have a problem with the generality of that comment. The CEO or President would never be responsible for the actions of their employees unless they specifically told them to do somethign. Creating an atmosphere or allowing it to happen without stopping it would be ok?

"Rumsfeld will stay in my Cabinet" Bush

How come when it is a conservative or Republican that does something 'wrong', the Democrats call for them to resign, but when it is a Democrat, they just say they are sorry and expect all to be forgotten? For all who think Rumy should resign, do you also think that Kofi 'I'm the biggest crook in the world' Annon, should resign for presiding over the biggest scandal in the world? All the suffering that the poor Iraqui citizens were suffering weren't at the hands of the embargo, but rather Kofi and his crony's fleecing the system for all they could, while claiming to be interested in helping those poor, poor people.

How come when it is a conservative or Republican that does something 'wrong', the Democrats call for them to resign, but when it is a Democrat, they just say they are sorry and expect all to be forgotten? For all who think Rumy should resign, do you also think that Kofi 'I'm the biggest crook in the world' Annon, should resign for presiding over the biggest scandal in the world?  All the suffering that the poor Iraqui citizens were suffering weren't at the hands of the embargo, but rather Kofi and his crony's fleecing the system for all they could, while claiming to be interested in helping those poor, poor people.

Hey don't worry man every person in a position of power is 100% evil so lets not worry about it.

I wouldn't say every, but you would probably be close. I have met a few politicians that I could trust to a reasonable extent. While I didn't like him too much as a senator, Paul Simon seemed pretty genuine.

Did Rumsfeld give the orders to have this done?  Whatever the answer to that question is, is my answer.

Agreed. Its my personal believe he had no clue this was going on. The White House found out and now they are making the efforts to correct the problem.

 

I also have to say its utter bulls*** that this happened, but I do think its being blown drastically out of proportion. Unless these were things being called down from the top, I see no reason why Rumsfeld should resign.

 

Now he should learn from this and I hope that their will be better ways for people to inform on prisoner abuse so the government can quickly act and stop it immediately if it does happen.

I wouldn't say every, but you would probably be close.  I have met a few politicians that I could trust to a reasonable extent.  While I didn't like him too much as a senator, Paul Simon seemed pretty genuine.

I think most politicians are more trustworthy at the local level, it gets worse from there.

I wouldn't say every, but you would probably be close.  I have met a few politicians that I could trust to a reasonable extent.  While I didn't like him too much as a senator, Paul Simon seemed pretty genuine.

Interesting you picked Simon out of all the politicians that have been around lately. I agree with you. I didn't really care for Simon's politics but he was a straight shooter.