WP: Rumsfeld Under Fire for Prison Scandal

Friday, May 7, 2004; Page A01

(snip)

Behind the scenes, the White House was taking no action to build support for Rumsfeld in Congress -- because the administration does not think he is in genuine danger, one senior official said. This wait-and-see approach allowed Bush's aides to watch as events unfold. Some Bush advisers weighed the pros and cons of replacing the civilian architect of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A White House official said that it is the view of a number of people close to Bush that getting rid of Rumsfeld would be "a self-inflicted political and policy wound disproportionate to the secretary's responsibility for this human failure on the part of a small number of soldiers."

Yet some presidential advisers argued that Rumsfeld's departure would allow Bush to distance himself from the scandal, and perhaps be the clean break that would allow the administration -- and Bush's reelection campaign -- to focus on other issues.

Rumsfeld scrapped his public schedule yesterday and hunkered down inside the Pentagon to prepare for his congressional grillings. Meanwhile, senior Pentagon aides and other U.S. officials discussed his handling of the prison problems on the condition that their names not be used.

According to these interviews, Bremer repeatedly raised the issue of prison conditions as early as last fall -- both in one-on-one meetings with Rumsfeld and other administration leaders, and in group meetings with the president's inner circle on national security. Officials described Bremer as "kicking and screaming" about the need to release thousands of uncharged prisoners and improve conditions for those who remained.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6870-2004May6.html

At least his shields are not innocent. Now that he is hiding behind members of his inner circle and not women we are getting close to him indeed.

Close enough for an apology. Boy, he choked on that one. The reporters don't understand his difficulty in that department like we do.

Just the beginning of a long hot summer, w.

Duck, Donald, duck!

as he gets thrown to the wolves tomorrow for congressional hearings.

He can lie, "I didn't know about it".

Or he can tell the truth, "I knew about this 6 months ago." The following sources have been aware of this situation:

The Red Cross
General Myers, probably General Sanchez too
The contracting companies
evidently Paul Bremer too

Which will he go for?

That holier than thou, arrogant smirk that he usually presents in public isn't going to go over real well.