Donald Rumsfeld should resign for his incompetence in waging the war in Iraq.
We, the undersigned, hereby request that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld immediately resign as Secretary of Defense for incompetence in managing the war in Iraq.
In 1993, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, resigned his post due to poor management of the combat operation in Somalia. Congressional Republicans called for Aspin to resign for poor leadership, planning, and failure to provide adequate logistical support to the operation in Somalia. The logistical issues resulted in the deaths of nearly two-dozen troops and inspired the events depicted in the movie "Black Hawk Down."
By all accounts, Secretary Rumsfeld has also failed in planning and executing combat operations in Iraq. Soldiers were sent into combat lacking vital equipment, such as life-saving body armor and ammunition. Commanders in the field requested, but were denied, more troops on the ground at the start of the war. Secretary Rumsfeld failed to provide for a plan to win the peace in Iraq, and did not plan for Iraqi resistance, despite being warned by the CIA of the potential of American forces falling under attack by Iraqi insurgents.
Secretary Rumsfeld has not held himself accountable for prisoner abuses at U.S. facilities in Iraq and Cuba at the hands of U.S. military police. Secretary Rumsfeld has not held himself accountable for the failure of U.S. forces to locate Iraq's stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction; and by diverting troops and equipment to Iraq, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the person responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was allowed to escape and has yet to be captured.
