this from bbc tonight:
link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4110091.stm
Quote:
Rumsfeld faces Iraq letters row
Rumsfeld has been criticised for his handling of the Iraq war
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has pledged to personally sign letters of condolence to the families of American soldiers killed in action.
He spoke shortly after his admission that he had used a machine to sign letters to relatives of more than 1,000 troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Rumsfeld is facing growing criticism from both Democrats and Republicans who are questioning his record in Iraq.
He was given a public grilling from his own troops earlier this month.
During his visit to a US base in Kuwait, American soldiers alleged they had used scrap metal to armour vehicles.
'An insult'
In a statement to the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes, Mr Rumsfeld tacitly admitted that in the past he had not personally signed the letters of condolence.
"While I have not individually signed each one, in the interest of ensuring expeditious contact with grieving family members, I have directed that in the future I sign each letter," Mr Rumsfeld's statement said.
This issue of the secretary of defence not personally signing the letters is just astounding to me... I have no confidence in Rumsfeld
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel
"I am deeply grateful for the many letters I have received from the families of those who have been killed in the service of our country, and I recognise and honour their personal loss."
Several families of US soldiers killed overseas said that the machine-signed letters reflected a lack of respect for their losses.
"To me it's an insult, not only as someone who lost a loved one but also as someone who served in Iraq," soldier Ivan Medina - whose twin brother Irving was killed in Iraq last summer - told Stars and Stripes.
The row has led to fresh debates among lawmakers over whether Mr Rumsfeld - whose handling of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath have come under close scrutiny - should step down.
'Great confidence'
The BBC's Michael Buchanan in Washington says senior Republicans have spent the past few days openly questioning President George W Bush's decision to keep Mr Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.
They claim the defence secretary has to answer for a number of major mistakes made in Iraq, our correspondent adds.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, a decorated Vietnam war veteran, told CBS's Face the Nation he had "no confidence" in Mr Rumsfeld.
"This issue of the secretary of defence not personally signing the letters is just astounding to me," he said, noting that President Bush did sign such letters himself.
But President Bush's Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, said Mr Rumsfeld had the full support of the White House.
Mr Card told ABC's This Week that Mr Rumsfeld "is doing a spectacular job, and the president has great confidence in him".
Most leading Republicans have said he should stay.
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you would think that this kind of thing would really stick in the craw of folk who have been aligning support for the iraq war with support for the troops who are sent there. in this move--or slide--it seems that the bush administration gets aligned with the best interest of the troops themselves.
earlier in the week, rumsfeld in kuwait: tonight, this...
i would also think that rumsfeld has to be seen as a liability rather than an asset...and it seems like people from across party lines feel that way as well. but for some reason, not geroge w. bush. i do not understand that one: any interpretations?
there was a version of this debate in the previous rumsfeld thread, but it went only in a particular direction, into a discussion of armaments--this seems to me to raise different types of problems.
what do you make of this?