Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!

Rumsfeld out, Bush picks Gates

By RON HUTCHESON
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Chastened by a “thumpin’” at the polls, President Bush heeded voters’ call for change Wednesday by ousting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Bush’s surprise decision to replace Rumsfeld with former CIA director Robert Gates was the most dramatic event in a series of rapid-fire developments triggered by the Democratic takeover in Congress.

Gates is a protege of Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to the first President Bush, and a member of the bipartisan Iraq study group led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker, who perhaps was the senior Bush’s closest adviser. That commission is expected to deliver its report to the president as early as next week.

The mainstream foreign-policy experts are not poised to make radical suggestions, but official Washington has expected both parties to seize on their ideas for political cover.

Gates’ selection to lead the Pentagon was the latest evidence that the senior Bush — often reported to be skeptical about U.S. involvement in Iraq — might be advising his son on how to extricate U.S. forces with minimal political and diplomatic damage.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who would head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee if Democrats capture the Virginia Senate seat and control of the Senate, said he understood Gates “has a much more pragmatic and realistic view of the place we find ourselves” in Iraq and is much more willing to work with the uniformed military than Rumsfeld was.

Unhappiness with the war was a major element of voter dissatisfaction Tuesday — and the main impetus for Rumsfeld’s departure.

His ouster came a week after Bush told reporters he wanted the defense secretary to stay on the job until end of his presidency. Despite what he said, Bush had already concluded he wanted “a fresh perspective” at the Pentagon, although he had not interviewed Gates or worked out final details of Rumsfeld’s resignation.

Bush said he kept his intentions secret before the elections because, he said, he did not want U.S. military personnel to think he was making key decisions “based upon politics.”

Rumsfeld showed little of his characteristic cockiness at a brief appearance with Bush and Gates later Wednesday, but he maintained his sense of humor.

“I have benefited greatly from criticism,” he said, borrowing a line from Winston Churchill, “and at no time have I suffered a lack thereof.”

Members of Congress from both parties welcomed Rumsfeld’s departure as a sign that Bush is open to new ideas on Iraq. Critics say the 74-year-old defense secretary:

• Ignored his commanders’ advice

• Invaded Iraq with too few troops

• Set a tone that encouraged the abuse of war captives

• Failed to develop a credible postwar plan

• Imposed backbreaking burdens on the Army and Marine Corps

In contrast to Rumsfeld, Gates is considered a pragmatic foreign policy realist, with a tendency to see the world in shades of gray, rather than black and white.

“This is the death knell of the neoconservative approach,” Biden said. “I think the president is going to necessarily have to find new ground.”

However, Bush signaled he would continue to oppose a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq until victory is within reach.

“The election has changed many things in Washington, but it has not changed my fundamental responsibility, and that is to protect the American people from attack,” Bush said. “If the goal is success, we can work together. If the goal is get out now, regardless, then that’s going to be hard to work together.”

Hearst Newspapers and The Washington Post contributed.

THE RUMSFELD FILE

The defense secretary will be remembered as ...

• The square-jawed face behind the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

• The man who introduced America to “shock and awe” bombing in Baghdad

• The leader who twice offered his resignation during the furor over prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq

• A hard-liner who supported U.S. tactics handling terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

QUOTE: “It will be a different Congress, a different environment, moving toward a presidential election and a lot of partisanship, and it struck me that (leaving now) would be a good thing for everybody.”