Iraq fears put pressure on Rumsfeld to quit

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1376482,00.html

Donald Rumsfeld is at the centre of a Republican firestorm over his handling of the war in Iraq, with pressure appearing to mount in Washington for him to quit as defence secretary.
Although Republicans have publicly stood by George Bush's decision to go to war throughout the growing death toll among US troops and spiralling violence on the ground, the acerbic Pentagon chief has become a focus of anxieties about the conduct of the war and about the future of Iraq. Unease about Mr Rumsfeld reached critical proportions when the former Senate majority leader, Trent Lott, told businessmen in Mississippi that the defence secretary should be replaced in the new year.

Mr Lott is from the centre of the Republican party, and was a powerful figure until forced to step down as Senate leader in 2002. "I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld," he told the Biloxi chamber of commerce. "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers." He added: "I would like to see a change in that slot in the next year or so."

Earlier this week, Mr Rumsfeld was the object of a withering attack by the editor of the Weekly Standard, the in-house organ of the neo-conservative movement, accusing him of "arrogant" buckpassing. "Surely Don Rumsfeld is not the defence secretary Bush should want to have for the remainder of his second term," said William Kristol.