"Why Bush (probably) Won't Dump Rumsfeld" by Slate's Fred Kaplan

http://slate.msn.com/id/2100201/

I Will Survive
Why Bush (probably) won't dump Rumsfeld.
By Fred Kaplan
Updated Friday, May 7, 2004, at 3:49 PM PT


The most eyebrow-raising moment at today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing came when Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld whether the time might come when it would be useful for him to step down—to prove how seriously Americans take the uproar over the Abu Ghraib tortures and to repair some of the damage to our reputation.

"That's possible," Rumsfeld instantly replied.

Earlier in the hearing, under questioning from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rumsfeld said he'd "resign in a minute" if he felt he could no longer be an "effective" secretary of defense. Rumsfeld also said, in his opening statement, that the incidents "occurred under my watch … I am accountable … I take full responsibility." In a ministerial government, these comments alone would guarantee resignation.

Yet it is exceedingly unlikely that Rummy will get the boot—and not just because we have a presidential system of government, and not just because our political language has been debased to the point where a word like "responsibility" means nothing.

Rumsfeld will almost certainly survive because President George W. Bush's political fortunes—at least for the moment—demand that he survive.

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“WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA, AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT.” Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon October 3, 2001 (IAP NEWS)

Even now, the secretary seems to miss the point. He appears to think the issue is not the torture but the photographs. He didn't tell the president because, as he put it, "The problem at that point was one-dimensional. It wasn't three-dimensional. It wasn't photographs and video." At several points in the hearings, he talked about the unique problems posed by "the information age."

What I take from this is that Rummy only briefs Chimpy on matters which will have political implications and nothing to do with policy. As long as there were only rumors and written reports of abuse, the political damage could be controlled.

Bush himself seemed to imply that when he showed disgust that he hadn't known that there were pictures.

This is a telling glimpse into how this administration operates only on one level: POLITICAL. It's out in the open for everybody to see.