RUM BULL :

A man with a gift for making enemies (William Rees-Mogg, August 12, 2002, Times of London)

Donald Rumsfeld still has important support on the conservative wing of the Republican Party, particularly among “deep fried” conservatives from the South. Now, however, he has made the cardinal mistake for any member of an American Cabinet. He has come out in criticism of the President’s own policies.

Any President worth his salt insists on the Administration being loyal in public, whatever arguments may have taken place in private. All Presidents remember how Truman sacked General Douglas MacArthur, a commander in the field. Last week a Palestinian delegation were visiting Washington. That they were there at all showed that the President wanted to retain at least some semblance of America’s role as the even-handed broker of peace in the Middle East. From Israel, Ariel Sharon stepped up his propaganda against Yassir Arafat, calling him the head of a “murderous gang”. Sharon’s abuse of Arafat is not wholly unjustified; nor, unfortunately, are Arafat’s counter-criticisms of Sharon.

Donald Rumsfeld could not restrain himself from joining in this argument. He made the mistake of joining in on the side of Sharon, not on that of George W. Bush. Rumsfeld referred to the “so-called occupied territories”; he also said that “focusing on settlements at the present time misses the point”. The policy of the President is to create a separate and independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories. He considers that Israel, in the meantime, should take no further steps to expand settlements in the occupied territories. This does not make the President a dove in Middle Eastern
policy, only a realist. [...]

President Bush cannot yet get rid of Rumsfeld. This is not only because he shares some of his views — as he does — or because of Rumsfeld’s continuing support in a section of the Republican Party. It is because his removal would be seen as a victory for Saddam Hussein. All his other enemies would be quite pleased, but the United States would have been seen as flinching in the face of Iraq. That is something which cannot be allowed to happen. Donald Rumsfeld may be a problem for the United States, at present he looks to be an insoluble one, though he will begin to feel the pressure of other people’s disappointed expectations. Heaven help him if the Republicans lose the House of Representatives in November.

And what about the war? It is essential to keep up the pressure on Saddam Hussein’s dangerous regime. It may well prove to be necessary to go to war to forestall his development of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, if the US has to live with a choleric Secretary of Defence, so be it.

Is this guy completely delusional? Is there a more popular man in government, including the President and Colin Powell, than Donald Rumsfeld? Here's a little yardstick that foreign olumnists might use : when Saturday Night Live, Letterman, and Leno are on someone's side, and are laughing with them, not at them, their job is safe. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 12, 2002 7:27 AM