McClellen says junior wants to get to the bottom of the torture and make sure those people are held responsible. Junior says Rumsfeld will stay.
Republicans in Congress starting to distance themselves from the administration.
_____________________________________
U.S. House Democrats seek Rumsfeld's ouster
Thu May 6, 2004 03:43 PM ET
(Adds Bush, new quotes throughout)
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - A growing chorus of Democrats, including the party's leader in the House of Representatives, called for U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation on Thursday amid a burgeoning scandal over abused Iraqi prisoners.
President George W. Bush stood by his embattled defense secretary, although aides said on Wednesday he had privately expressed annoyance over the Pentagon chief's handling of the scandal.
"Secretary Rumsfeld has served our nation well. Secretary Rumsfeld has been the secretary during two wars and he is an important part of my cabinet and he'll stay in my cabinet," Bush said during an appearance with Jordan's King Abdullah.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Rumsfeld of being "in denial about Iraq," and said U.S. soldiers "are suffering great casualties and injuries, and American taxpayers are paying an enormous price" because Rumsfeld "has done a poor job as secretary of defense."
"Secretary Rumsfeld must resign," she said.
Pelosi, of California, said Rumsfeld "must be held responsible for any cover-up" of the abuses that came to light last week with televised photographs showing sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in a jail outside Baghdad.
Some top House Republicans dismissed the resignation calls, and many lawmakers said it was too early to fix blame for an Iraqi prisoners scandal that most acknowledged posed a major setback to U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, and several other House Republicans accused the Democrats of trying to politicize the war.
"Calling for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation is as bad a signal as saying the war in unwinnable," DeLay said.
QUESTIONS OVER RUMSFELD'S LIABILITY
But as lawmakers in both the House and Senate denounced the egregious treatment of prisoners that they said sent an appalling signal to the Muslim world, some Republicans privately questioned whether Rumsfeld had become a liability before the Nov. 2 presidential and congressional elections.
They said survival in his job depended on his performance on Friday in hearings of the Senate and House Armed Services committees on the prison abuses.
Rumsfeld must "give the performance of his life," and show contrition, a Senate Republican aide said.
"He needs to have full disclosure of the facts, no parsing of words or displaying the usual convoluted testimony that the Senate Armed Services Committee has been accustomed to," the aide said.
"Republicans instinctively are trying to throw Rumsfeld a lifeline, but he's not giving them much to work with," another Senate Republican aide said.
There is some feeling Rumsfeld has become "a cancer around the Republican effort," and Bush's re-election chances would be better without him, the aide said.
In the Senate and House, Democrats gave a series of floor speeches saying Rumsfeld must be held responsible for setting policies that allowed the abuses to occur, and for failing to advise Congress before the devastating photos were televised around the world.
Most stopped short of demanding his resignation.
But Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said, "For the good of our country, the safety of our troops and our image around the globe, Secretary Rumsfeld should resign. If he does not resign forthwith, the president should fire him," he said.
The Congressional Black Caucus, all Democrats, also called for his resignation, and Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, said Rumsfeld should be impeached if Bush does not fire him.
Asked if Rumsfeld should resign, Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said: "I think it will be determined on his testimony. We ought to listen to him."
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro, Joanne Kenen, and Susan Cornwell, and Steve Holland)
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
reuters.com |
