Reply #72: Rumsfeld won't resign, wants war support

[54anickel]

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060323-043814-5051r

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday he does not consider himself "embattled" and is not considering resigning.

"Those kinds of calls have been going on for five-plus years. And the president has asked me not to get involved in politics, and that's politics," Rumsfeld said at a press conference Thursday.

A retired U.S. Army major general who trained Iraqi soldiers from 2003 to 2004 -- as the insurgency was strengthening -- wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times Sunday that Rumsfeld is "not competent" to lead American forces, citing Rumsfeld's failure to build a real coalition to fight the Iraq war, and for cowing his military advisers rather than soliciting and taking their advice. Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton called on Rumsfeld to resign.

He denied twice before a question was even finished that he had been sidelined in the administration because of his declining popularity.

"No, I'm hard at the job, working hard, and getting up every day and thinking what we can do for the troops and the wonderful people who serve our country," he said.

snip>

"I've read that polls may be down and are down in some instances," Rumsfeld said. "They do tend to go up and down depending on circumstances. And if every time a poll went down, somebody changed their policy or changed their position or tossed in the towel, we wouldn't have a country today. There have been plenty of times polls have down in our history when people have persevered and been resolute and prevailed ultimately. And that's what will happen in this instance."

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There's just no getting rid of any of these folks, is there? Bush really is King.