Rumsfeld must resign - Clinton
2006-08-04 08:22
Washington - New York Democratic senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday called on defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign, after accusing him of "presiding over a failed policy in Iraq".
Clinton's spokesperson confirmed the senator said President
George W Bush should accept Rumsfeld's resignation.
Clinton, a possible 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, ripped into Rumsfeld for his handling of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars at a senate armed services committee hearing earlier in the day.
Incompetence
"We hear a lot of happy talk and rosy scenarios, but
because of the administration's strategic blunders and,
frankly, the record of incompetence in executing, you are
presiding over a failed policy," Clinton said.
"Given your track record, secretary Rumsfeld, why should we
believe your assurances now?" she asked him in a tense
exchange.
Threat of civil war
Iraq is caught in the worst sectarian violence yet seen and
faces the threat of civil war, two of the United States' senior
generals said on Thursday, three years after the invasion.
"Sectarian violence probably is as bad as I've seen it, in
Baghdad in particular," army General John Abizaid, the head of
US central command, told the senate hearing.
"If not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war."
Marine Corps General Peter Pace, the most senior US military
officer, also said there was a "possibility" of civil war in
Iraq, where the violence has claimed about 100 lives a day.
While a number of Democrats have called for Rumsfeld's
resignation, Clinton until now had stopped short of that.
Clinton called Rumsfeld to testify
Rumsfeld had planned to skip the committee hearing and
instead hold a closed briefing with the full senate, until
Clinton publicly called on him to testify in the open forum.
She argued that senators and the American people "should
hear directly from the top civilian leader at the Pentagon, the
person most responsible for implementing the president's
military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan".
In his opening statement, Rumsfeld thanked the committee
for inviting him to testify, and added, "Senator Clinton, thank
you for seconding the motion".
- Reuters