A High-Stakes Game of Rummy!

By now you've seen the film clips, probably a hundred times, of the various people who interrupted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's speech in Atlanta yesterday.

Among those who put Rumsfeld on the spot was former CIA analyst Ray McGovern who pressed Rumsfeld for answers about what McGovern says were lies about Iraq's nuclear capabalities in a bid to justify the war.

You are also undoubtedly aware of the many retired generals who in recent weeks have called for Rumsfeld to resign.

Today, at GovExec.com, the Web site of the magazine Government Executive, James Kitfield of the National Journal has a piece calling the current relationship between Rumsfeld and the military he leads the "worst breach of civil-military relations since Harry Truman dismissed Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1951." Kitfield argues in the piece that the timing of such a schism couldn't be worse, with an Iraq pullout to be orchestrated, an Iran war being discussed and another military manpower crunch coming soon.

The Web site The Daily Standard, the online home of the conservative opinion journal The Weekly Standard, has a piece critical of the Defense Department's efforts at thwarting the proliferation of IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, which have caused about 1/3 of the deaths of coaltion soldiers in Iraq.

And The Hill weighed in with a recent piece on the politics of the growing displeasure with Rumsfeld. The Hill points out that of the likely Democratic presidential candidates in 2008, only Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton have not called for Rumsfeld to resign. The article quotes political observers and pollsters who say Clinton's stance is part of her concerted effort to paint herself as a sober, middle-of-the-road leader.

PHOTO CREDIT TO: blogs.citypages.com and Corey Anderson of www.americanidle.net