So you really want Rummy to resign or get fired???

I don't. It's too convenient. If he goes, Bush is free and clear for ohhh at least 6 months until elections. The American people will assume it's all now a-okay, we are good, and thank god our beloved warrior king got rid of that terrible man. This is stupid politics. It's like the guy who usually dry cleaned Monica's clothes being nailed because he didn't go after her for not bringing in the blue dress. The prince is off on his campaign stops among those who swing and sway in the pews on Sunday morning invoking Jeeesus while do the "wink wink" at racial slurs and attacks here at home. They think these pictures are great and support the troops that stuck it to those ugly Arabs. This slime had the report since January and as usual is feigning "ignorance". And our Dems unfortunately are going along with the attempt to bullshit us into directing our anger at Rummy and only Rummy. We are again being played for fools. This belongs at the feet of Bush.

and take his cabal of sickos with him.

Rumsfield resigning or being fired won't help anything, but provides a fall guy for Bush.

Would Rumsfeld crack? Much like Paul O'Neill? Or Richard Clarke, even? Would he come clean if fired?

Rumsfield is a hard-core neocon in a totally different class from O'Neill or Clarke.

You aren't going to have an acting-DoD situation for very long -- this is, after all, 'wartime'.

Wolfowitz -- at least as big a lightning rod -- would be DoD pro tem.

Then Cheney nominates another candidate, who would then go through a long and nssty confirmation fight right through the doldrums before the conventions, during which the whole prehistory of Operation Just Because would be dredged up.

Must-see TV.

That would be just what Bushco wants-- it's a lose-lose situation for the boy-king as long as people continue to put pressure on Bush and Rummy to be accountable. If Rummy doesn't go, he'll act as the lightning rod, and if he does, the absence of a real DoD and the confirmation process will do the same. Gonna be a very hot summer in Washington, I suspect....

And yes, I'm another one who'd prefer to see rummy stay exactly where he is.

Either way is bad for bush. If rummy stays, that's a nice fat millstone around bush's neck for a longer time. While it would reinforce (inexplicably, with some people) what a steady "leader" bush is, and how he's strong and he makes his stand (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what the party line is about him, shame so many people actually buy it), it also underscores that the big, festering sore is STILL THERE. rummy? Oh yeah, isn't he the guy at the top of the food chain on those awful photos? It also would reinforce to those of us who aren't fooled that bush is such a thick-headed stubborn idiot that he'll stick with the guy just because his "golden gut" tells him he's doing the right thing.

If rummy goes, the immediate problem is that, to many people, it will APPEAR that the problem has been effectively dealt with, and they'll channel it right back to little george being such a strong and decisive leader who's willing to bite the bullet with one of his underlings and fire the guy and give him the heave-ho he deserves. Of course, we all know that this would be mere cosmetics and wouldn't do squat to solve the problem. The complication here, however, is that rummy may wind up facing charges, or fear he's going to face charges, and he may not be SO loyal that he's willing to swallow the biggest pills to protect his FORMER boss who hung him out to dry. He'd maybe write a book, maybe feeling scorned enough that they didn't stick by him, that THIS would generate big headaches for bush as well. You never know with these people.

In addition, to fire rummy, that would imply to the world that bush realizes he made a big blunder - something he NEVER admits to, even while he's now issuing these flabby, anemic "apologies" through gritted teeth. But he's NEVER wrong. He's NEVER made a mistake. And this would be the glaring evidence to the contrary in everybody's face. And his ego probably couldn't handle it, self-appointed sun god that he believes himself to be.

I agree with you completely. :thumbsup:

..if he goes, then Bush can blame every death and fuck up from then on out on the nasty Dems who forced out the Sec. of Defense during war and thus encouraged the enemy---as if this incompetent f--er doesn't encourage the enemy (and friends to become enemies) every day that he exists in the Oval Office!!!

done that allows simian boy to have a blame goat, but for the next little while i'd be happy to see wolfowitz get canned, that could tide me over until november.

i want him to drag bush, cheney, condi, rove, and ALL of the rest of em down with his sorry ass. i dont see why bush isnt cutting him loose. if bush did that he would send a pretty damn clear message that he doesnt condone this stuff, but instead, hes keeping rummy on, more power to you bush, will only bring you down in the end.

-LK

Then get pardoned if necessary.

The signal for an attack on Rumsfeld was given by Bush himself, in a rebuke to the Pentagon boss delivered at a closed-door meeting Wednesday in the White House, then promptly leaked to the press to provide fodder for the evening television news and front-page reports in the major daily newspapers Thursday.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/iraq-m07.shtml

And it does belong at Bush's feet. But if Scummy goes, it will be the first true real absoulute CRACK in the armor of this administration.
Maybe it would allow the press, the Dems, the people! to realize these slimeballs are vulnerable and can be pressed to break.

I suspect that's why Bush values loyalty. It's a sign of his utter incompetence that he knows is behind all of them, they can't stand a crack in the dam. Flood gates are going open, and I can't predict that Scummy will go, but I predict that it's going to get much worse for awhile.

Fear and silence are at the heart of this cabal. When the fear and silence are gone, the emperor has no clothes.

Rummy's resignation won't fix the problem -- Rummy staying in the hot seat might help solve the problem.

I want him gone with the rest of them, but, if some sort of immunity will get him to turn on Bush, then I'd prefer that.

The scapegoating is disgusting. However, it's far worse that Rumsfeld is going to accept his whipping boy position.

(for a lot of the reasons above), but it's absolutely necessary for the Dems to keep calling for his head, since they have to be seen doing something, and they can't quite get at Himself yet.

Then I thought about how Nixon tried to plug the hole in the dike by stuffing Agnew's body into it, and it didn't work.

I finally concluded that it really doesn't matter whether Rummy goes or not. The scandal will live or die depending on what more keeps coming out, and whether the media keep people's attention on it. Rummy's resignation or retention won't make a whit of difference in what the press does. Their motivations are elsewhere, their orders come from the corporate gods, and they will bring Bush down or not depending on their orders. Rumsfeld is irrelevant, his fate is just one more choreographed step in the master plan, and the master plan itself is based on what the gods see as in their best interest.

. . . I call for the impeachment of Messrs. Bush, Cheney and Powell as well.

I also call for the convening of an international tribunal to investigate possible war crimes charges to be brought against Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and their subordinates.

The contravention of the Third Geneva Convention governing the treatment of Prisoners of War and other combat detainees was deliberate. The invasion of Iraq was without justification by any verifiable fact and by its nature a preventive action, not self-defense or a pre-emptive attack in the face of an immanent threat. A preventive war is a pruely aggressive act, not justified by international law.

These are war crimes and crimes against humanity. The guilty must be brought to justice.

for a multitude of crimes against humanity.

I don't really care who goes first, or in what order. Let the perp walks begin.