Washington – The widening circle of retired generals who have stepped forward to call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation is shaping up as an unusual outcry that could pose a significant challenge to Rumsfeld’s leadership, current and former generals said Thursday.
Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, who led troops on the ground in Iraq as recently as 2004 as the commander of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, on Thursday became the fifth retired senior general in recent days to call publicly for Rumsfeld’s ouster.
“We need to continue to fight the global war on terror and keep it off our shores,” Swannack said. “But I do not believe Secretary Rumsfeld is the right person to fight that war based on his absolute failures in managing the war against Saddam in Iraq.”
Another former Army commander in Iraq, Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who led the 1st Infantry Division, publicly broke ranks with Rumsfeld on Wednesday.
The White House has dismissed the criticism, saying it merely reflects tensions over the war in Iraq.
“The president believes Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a very fine job during a challenging period in our nation’s history,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday.
Among the five senior retired generals who have called for Rumsfeld’s ouster, some have emphasized that they still believe it was right for the United States to invade Iraq. But they complain that Rumsfeld and his aides too often inserted themselves into military decisionmaking, often disregarding advice from military commanders.
The outcry also appears based in part on a coalescing of concern about the toll that the war is taking on American armed forces, with little sign, three years after the invasion, that U.S. troops will be able to withdraw in large numbers any time soon.
Pentagon officials, while acknowledging that Rumsfeld’s forceful style has sometimes ruffled his military subordinates, played down the idea that he was overriding the advice of his military commanders.
Many currently serving officers say respect for civilian control of the military requires that they air differences of opinion in private.
“I support my secretary of defense,” Lt. General John Vines, who commands the 18th Airborne Corps, said Thursday. “If I publicly disagree with my civilian leadership, I think I’ve got to resign. My advice should be private.”