Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (283925)	4/14/2006 8:39:42 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575219

Its going to take a real fight to get these people out of the White House. In unusual action, Bush issues statement supporting Rumsfeld By Terence Hunt The Associated Press WASHINGTON – President Bush, brushing aside an intensifying clamor among retired military commanders for Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation, said today his defense secretary enjoys his full support and that Rumsfeld's leadership of the Pentagon was "exactly what is needed at this critical period." Bush apparently issued his statement to defuse increasing calls for the secretary to go because of criticism that he has mishandled the Iraq war and made other mistakes. "I have seen first-hand how Don relies upon our military commanders in the field and at the Pentagon to make decisions about how best to complete these missions," Bush said in a written statement, issued while the president was spending the Easter weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains. "Secretary Rumsfeld's energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this critical period," Bush said. "He has my full support and deepest appreciation." In an interview aired today on Al-Arabiya television, Rumsfeld said he intends to serve the president at his pleasure. "The fact that two or three or four retired people have different views, I respect their views," Rumsfeld said. "But obviously if, out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round." Bush said he had talked with Rumsfeld earlier in the day about military operations in the war on terror. "I reiterated my strong support for his leadership during this historic and challenging time for our nation," the president said. It was an extraordinary statement by the president on the status of a top official. Bush decided it was warranted because of the "type of voices" that have recently engaged in public criticism of Rumsfeld, a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to more freely elaborate on the White House's thinking. The official said that Rumsfeld's case was unique. There has been no similar statement for Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose resignation is rumored to be imminent. The administration official said Bush's statement should make it clear that Rumsfeld's job is safe for now. Several retired military commanders, including Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who turned down a promotion to lieutenant general in favor of leaving the Army, have recently made statements urging Rumsfeld's ouster. They argue that the planning for the war in Iraq was not sufficient and that Rumsfeld's management style has too often given shortshrift attention to the views of uniformed officers. Earlier today, Batiste said he did not know of any coordinated effort by military figures to get Rumsfeld fired, calling the recent series of critical statements "absolutely coincidental." "I have not talked to the other generals," Batiste, interviewed from Rochester, N.Y., said on NBC"s "Today" show. Nevertheless, he said he thinks the clamor for Rumsfeld to step down is "happening for a reason." Batiste commanded the Army's 1st Infantry Division forces in Iraq. He said he declined the promotion and a chance to be the No. 2 U.S. military officer there because he could not accept Rumsfeld's management style. "I support civilian control (of the military) completely," Batiste told interviewers on CBS's "The Early Show." But, he added, "we went to war with a flawed plan that didn't account for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime. We also served under a secretary of defense who didn't understand leadership, who was abusive, who was arrogant, and who didn't build a strong team." Military experts say the parade of recently retired military brass calling for Rumsfeld's resignation is troubling and threatens to undermine strong support that Bush has enjoyed among the officer corps and troops. With public anti-war sentiment increasing, "the president and his team cannot afford to lose that support," said Kurt Campbell, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. Rumsfeld has been a lightning rod for criticism since the war began in March 2003. He was blamed for committing too few U.S. troops and for underestimating the strength of the insurgency. He took heat in 2004 over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the U.S. Army-run Abu Ghraib prison, and for a brusque response he gave to an Army National Guard soldier in Kuwait who questioned him on inadequate armor. Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company seattletimes.nwsource.com

To: Road Walker who wrote (283925)	4/15/2006 3:08:54 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575219

Iraq's new U.S. Embassy is 104 acres of secrecy It's self-sufficient, secure -- and criticized Saturday, April 15, 2006 BY CHARLES J. HANLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD -- The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future. The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome. "We can't talk about it. Security reasons," Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project. A British tabloid even told readers the location was being kept se cret -- news that would surprise Baghdadis who for months have watched the forest of construction cranes at work across the winding Tigris, at the very center of their city and within easy mortar range of anti-U.S. forces in the capital, though fewer explode there these days. The embassy complex -- 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report -- is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified "Green Zone," just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of Saddam Hussein's, and across the road from the building where the former dictator is on trial. The Republican Palace, where U.S. Embassy functions are temporarily housed in cubicles among the chandelier-hung rooms, is less than a mile away in the 4-square-mile zone, an en clave of American and Iraqi government offices and lodgings ringed by miles of concrete barriers. The 5,500 Americans and Ira qis working at the embassy, al most half listed as security, are far more numerous than at any other U.S. mission worldwide. They rarely venture out into the "Red Zone," that is, violence-torn Iraq. This huge American contingent at the center of power has drawn criticism. "The presence of a massive U.S. Embassy -- by far the largest in the world -- co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exer cises power in their country," the International Crisis Group, a European-based research group, said in one of its periodic reports on Iraq. State Department spokesman Justin Higgins defended the size of the embassies, old and new, saying it's indicative of the work facing the United States here. CONTINUED 1 \| 2 Next nj.com