One of the most respected non-partisan publications, the Military Times, has called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to be fired in its Nov 13 Issue. However, the publication�s condemnation of Rumsfeld�s botched occupation was overlooked on the eve of Saddam�s guilty verdict in Washington and the press.

“The time has come, Mr President, to face the hard bruising truth,” said an editorial appearing in the November 13 issues of the weekly Military Times group of newspapers, which include the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times. “Donald Rumsfeld must go. Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised.

“And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.”
A spokesman for the Military Times, a non-partisan publication, said the timing of the editorial was not political but a response to comments from President George W.Bush last week in which he said Mr Rumsfeld was doing a “fantastic job” and that he wanted him to stay on for the remaining two years of the President’s term.

Down in the polls, around half-a-dozen Republican candidates are now calling on Bush to oust Rumsfeld, and trying desperately to distance themselves from the war. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed the editorial outright as a “shabby piece of work”.

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