'Good riddance' to Rumsfeld

2006-11-08 22:50

Baghdad - Iraqi lawmakers welcomed the resignation of United States defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday, saying they held him responsible for many of the war-torn country's ongoing woes.

Politicians were unanimous late on Wednesday in their pleasure at seeing the controversial American politician - one of the architects of the US-led invasion of Iraq - move on.

Venerable Shi'ite politician Mahmud Othman said: "The resignation came late.

"He should have made it right after the scandal of Abu Ghraib in the Spring of 2004.

"He should have been held responsible back then because he was the No 1 man in charge of Iraq and it might have been better if he'd handed in his resignation earlier."

For nationalist Sunni Arab politician Saleh al-Mutlak, a vocal opponent of the US-led invasion, the resignation represents an "awakening of the American conscious".

'Against humanitarian attitudes'

"Everything that Rumsfeld and his rule did in Iraq was against ethics and against humanitarian attitudes.

"It does not reflect the policies of a civilised country like the United States," he said from Dubai.

Mutlak laid much of the chaos engulfing Iraq at the feet of Rumsfeld and his decision to dissolve the old Iraqi army, leaving the country open to foreign intervention and destabilising elements.

"American policy in Iraq is an extension of the mistakes made by Rumsfeld who let the militias flourish and the regional intervention spread," he said.

"I would expect a new policy would come from this and also due to the results of the election."

Part of a much-larger system

Not all politicians, however, expected a sea change in US policy, and instead just saw Rumsfeld as part of a much-larger system.

"America's Middle East strategy is on a grand level," said Bassem Sharif, a member of the Shi'ite Fadhila Party, part of the dominant Shiite coalition.

"It is rarely affected by changing people, whether on a ministerial level or even by a change in president."

Independent Shi'ite lawmaker Sami al-Askari acknowledged that "Rumsfeld was the leader of the hawks and holds a lot of responsibility for the (mid-term elections) setbacks of the Republicans," but he doubted this represented a major turning point for US policy.

"A lot of Republicans have asked for his resignation before now," said Askari.

- AFP