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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (1401)	5/10/2004 3:08:43 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (11) \| Respond to of 35834

Keeping Rumsfeld shows leadership By Boston Herald editorial staff Saturday, May 8, 2004 <font size=4> Did it ever occur to anyone in the media elite that President Bush's decision to retain the services of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was a sign of political courage, not misplaced loyalty? It is the easiest decision in politics for an elected official to throw one of his appointees under the bus. Nothing takes the air out of a public relations crisis faster than sacrificing a scapegoat. Far harder is to stick by underlings under fire. Doing so essentially means accepting that the bull's eye will be placed on the politician's own back. That's not a position most elected leaders are willing to put themselves in. Bush clearly is - and only six months from a general election to boot. By doing so, he has placed himself at huge political risk, and there's something admirable about that. Keeping Rumsfeld at the Pentagon and George Tenet at the CIA means Bush is essentially taking responsibility - personal responsibility - for the missteps of these two agencies, past and future. He's gambling that the American public will look, as he does, at the bigger picture. The president has supreme confidence in the soundness of his policies and in the people he has picked to carry them out. It doesn't follow that Bush is blind to policy or human failings. That he took Rumsfeld to the woodshed - and then authorized aides to make it public - makes clear he's no patsy. We don't agree with his decision to keep Tenet. Any CIA leader who accepts that it will take five years to fix that troubled operation isn't the right person to lead the turnaround. And certainly a major ball was dropped in the handling of Iraqi prisoner abuse cases. Rumsfeld acknowledged as much in testimony before Congress yesterday: ``I feel terrible about what happened to these Iraqi detainees. They are human beings. They were in U.S. custody. . . . I offer my deepest apologies.'' Rumsfeld warned that there are worse disclosures to come. Further review may make it clear that he, like Tenet, is the wrong choice for the country. That the president isn't willing to make that choice now doesn't show a lack of leadership. It is leadership. news.bostonherald.com