Bush defends Rumsfeld

2004-12-20 21:05

Washington - President George W Bush on Monday vigorously defended embattled defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the Pentagon chief was doing "a really fine job" and would stay on despite mounting criticism.

Bush brushed off the latest controversy sparked by disclosures that Rumsfeld had not personally signed letters of condolences to the families of US troops killed in Iraq, insisting his defence secretary was a "caring fellow".

Rumsfeld has come under fire on a range of issues from prisoner abuse in Iraq to his alleged insensitivity to equipment problems plaguing US troops.

He faced new heat after weekend reports he used a machine to sign his condolence letters.

But Bush made an impassioned defence of Rumsfeld's professional and personal qualities and refused to criticise him over the letters.

"I know secretary Rumsfeld's heart. I know how much he cares for the troops," Bush said, recounting Rumsfeld's visits to wounded troops and "the anguish in his voice" when he speaks about the dangers in Iraq.

"Sometimes, perhaps, his demeanour is rough and gruff, but beneath that rough and no-nonsense demeanour is a good human being who cares deeply about the military and deeply about the grief that war causes."

Rumsfeld, 72, was a main architect of the US invasion of Iraq last year and became a lightning rod for criticism as it became bogged down by a stubborn insurgency and scandal over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners.

His sometimes off-hand manner got him in trouble in Kuwait earlier this month when he seemed to blow off a soldier's complaint that US vehicles lacked sufficient armour by saying, "You go to war with the army you have."

- AFP