Taking Bets on Rummy's Survival?

Taking Bets on Rummy's Survival?

by mcjoan

Fri Apr 14, 2006 at 08:39:14 PM PDT

Bush has expressed his undying support for embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Can Rummy's resignation be far behind? With six retired generals, four Army and two Marines, calling for his ouster, Salon's revelation that Rummy was closely involved in the harsh treatment of a Guantánamo detainee reaching the traditional media, can Bush and Rummy hold out?

Larry Johnson posting at TMPCafe thinks not:

Up to this point, President Bush could offer the lie that he was giving the military everything they asked for and no one challenged him. To quote Edgar Allen Poe, "nevermore". The die is now cast for the Republican controlled Congress. The respective heads of the Armed Services Committees, Senator Warner and Congressman Duncan Hunter, now realize that a critical mass of generals has come forward and that Don Rumsfeld has suffered the parliamentary equivalent of a vote of no confidence....

This is not a simple case of the military trying to usurp or embarrass civilian leaders. The growing chorus of senior military officers recognize that if they do not speak out now that the debacle in Iraq could erode the publics' confidence that military leaders, especially those in the Army and the Marines, and leave the military with a tarnished legacy like the aftermath of Vietnam.

Don Rumsfeld may want to stick it out, but stick a fork in him. His goose is cooked and his reign will soon be over.

And as long as we're taking bets on how long Rummy might be along, why don't we throw into the mix the possibility that Lieberman will take this opportunity to vacate a potentially embarrassing and definitely difficult primary race to take the job. Just some things to ruminate on on a Friday night.