MoveOn.org - Fire Rumsfeld

[Cadfael]

Dear MoveOn member,

It's time for President Bush to fire Donald Rumsfeld from his post as America's Secretary of Defense. The signs are now everywhere.

As Thomas Friedman put it, in a column titled "Restoring Our Honor":

"This administration needs to undertake a total overhaul of its Iraq
policy; otherwise, it is courting a total disaster for us all. That
overhaul needs to begin with President Bush firing Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld -- today, not tomorrow or next month, today." <1>

Please call President Bush now, and urge him to fire Rumsfeld.

White House comment line
202-456-1111 or
202-456-1112

Bush has already taken the unusual step of publicly disclosing a reprimand of Rumsfeld. But he's got to go further, and dismiss him.

Please also call your Senators and Representative:

Let them know it's time for Rumsfeld to go.

Here are some highlights from the latest reports, illustrating why:

Presidential advisor Karl Rove "believes that it will take a generation for the United States to live this scandal down in the Arab world." <2>

The Washington Post reports that "U.S. officials said Rumsfeld and the Pentagon resisted appeals in recent months from the State Department and the Coalition Provisional Authority to deal with problems relating to detainees." <3> The Post also links the culture that fostered torture to Rumsfeld, in a searing editorial excerpted below.

Amazingly, Rumsfeld still doesn't seem to see that the despicable acts at Abu Ghraib prison amounted to torture. According to Salon.com:

"My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which
I believe technically is different from torture," Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday. "I don't know if it is
correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or
that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not
going to address the torture word." <4>

Rumsfeld's simply got to go.

Please make your calls today. Please let us know you've called, at:

http://www.moveon.org/callrumsfeld.html?id=2801-547083-e9O_oTzIR9LgeW5hDnaPnA

Thank you.

Sincerely,

- Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org team
Thursday, May 6th, 2004

Footnotes:

<1> Friedman's complete column is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/opinion/06FRIE.html?th

<2> Rumsfeld Chastised by President for His Handling of Iraq Scandal
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/06/politics/06CABI.html?hp

<3> Bush Privately Chides Rumsfeld
Officials Say Pentagon Resisted Repeated Calls for Prison Changes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5733-2004May5.html

<4> "Abuse"? How about torture
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/05/06/torture/index_np.html
_______________

[lebkuchen]

1. The one place I didn't call. Don't know why.

Line is busy. A good sign.