Rumsfeld’s ouster, and his successor

Re “Rumsfeld out as Democrats close in on Senate majority,” Nov. 9

If any Republican needed to be convinced of President Bush’s cynical use of the party over the last six years, the timing of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s resignation should be sufficient. Republicans running for the Senate would have benefited from a preelection resignation announcement.

But Bush and his political advisors consciously decided to await the results of the election. The rebuke of Bush by the electorate was well-deserved on many levels.

RICHARD DOOLITTLE

Grand Terrace, Calif.

*

Rumsfeld has been removed; blotted up like an ink spill. I’d like to remind him that politics, like war, is untidy.

CLAUDINE WILLIS

Portland, Ore.

*

Bush’s mixed message the day after the election makes clear that he still doesn’t get it. The American people took back the House and Senate on the main issue of the illconceived, incompetently waged and disastrously expensive war in Iraq.

Bush dumped Rumsfeld years late and has replaced him with a Bush family crony who was the spook charged with arming Saddam Hussein for his drawn-out war with Iran. The change took the media’s attention away from focusing on the importance of the Democratic victory.

Bush reiterated his goals for Iraq without any inkling that our troops should be taken out of Iraq, where they are in the crossfire of Iraqis unable to curb their downward spiral into civil war. The Iraqis are rejecting the gift of democracy in favor of tribal strife, and Americans are fed up with the waste of our troops and funds.

LACHLAN MACDONALD

Arroyo Grande, Calif.

*

Bush has nominated Texas A&M; University President Robert M. Gates to replace Rumsfeld as secretary of Defense. Most of Gates’ government service was working for the CIA for President George H. W. Bush. Gates has less experience managing a war than Rumsfeld, and the decision to appoint Gates to head the Department of Defense was based mainly on the fact that he is another hand-me-down from Bush’s father’s administration; another Bush family crony.

Managing the war in Iraq is a herculean task. Shouldn’t Bush have nominated someone who actually has experience working with the armed forces during wartime?

FRANK T. SMATHERS

Santa Clarita

*

Bush said that it was the right time for Rumsfeld to leave. The question I pose is: Would Bush have said the same thing if the Republicans had held on to the majority in one or both houses?

MARK NOOGER

Reseda