Media General News Service November 09, 2006
Outcome in Iraq could shape Rumsfeld's legacy
By James W. Crawley
WASHINGTON -- He hasn't even started packing up his office, but the legacy of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld already is being debated.
President Bush announced yesterday that he is replacing Rumsfeld with Robert Gates, CIA director during the first President Bush's administration. And the appraisals of Rumsfeld began.
Rumsfeld "will be called the architect of the Iraq war," said John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank.
"If, in a decade, Iraq is peaceful and a tourist trap for Americans, he'll get the credit," Pike said. "Or, in a year, it all flies apart, he'll get the blame."
While many questions remain about how Rumsfeld's departure will affect the U.S. presence in Iraq, there's no doubt he has had a profound impact on the military during the past six years at the Pentagon.
Chris Hellman, defense analyst for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, predicted the Rumsfeld legacy will not be positive.
"Unfortunately, it's one he won't be too happy with," he added. "It's hard to list any positive accomplishments at the Pentagon."
But, Heritage Foundation analyst James Carafano took a sympathetic view. "I don't think the story's over yet," he said. "If Iraq works out, people will look back and forgive the mistakes."
Rumsfeld, among the 20 men who have been defense secretaries, has the distinction of being the only one to serve twice as the civilian head of the military -- first for President Gerald R. Ford, and then for Bush. He was the youngest -- 43 -- and oldest -- 74 -- defense secretary.
Altogether, Rumsfeld has served for 2,547 days -- 49 days fewer than Robert McNamara, who served Presidents Kennedy and Johnson during the Vietnam War.
It has been a contentious tenure marked by Rumsfeld's intractable style.
"He alienated the two constituencies that he needed -- Congress and the uniformed services," said Hellman.
When Rumsfeld walked into the Pentagon on Inauguration Day 2001, he had big plans. He wanted to shelve expensive Cold War weaponry for ultra-modern fighters, missile defenses and high-tech weapons. He also wanted to cut the Pentagon's notorious bureaucracy.
"He came in with the intent of shaking the place up," said GlobalSecurity.org's Pike. "He wasn't going to just work the in-basket."
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Rumsfeld has led a military at war, first in Afghanistan and then Iraq.
But he continued to push for major changes in weaponry, personnel rules and strategy. That has helped fuel a massive increase in defense spending, said Joseph Cirincione, senior vice president at the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington think tank. Under Rumsfeld's watch, annual defense spending -- excluding war supplemental spending -- has risen 49 percent to $463 billion.
Critics from Congress and the ranks of retired generals argue that Rumsfeld's unrelenting quest for the military to become leaner, meaner and faster was a cause of the current problems in Iraq.
Several congressmen and senators, a growing list of former generals and military newspaper editorial writers had called for Rumsfeld's resignation. The Iraq war was the key campaign issue Tuesday as the Democrats took over control of the House and were poised to lead the Senate.
With newly empowered Democrats planning to call oversight hearings on the conduct of the Iraq war, Rumsfeld may not be calling the shots at the Pentagon but he could be called upon to explain his actions.
Rumsfeld is famously known for skewering generals, admirals and reporters for lengthy answers, imprecise wording or questions he doesn't like. His "glare," whether from behind his E-Ring office desk or the briefing room podium, has intimidated many.
His successor is low-key.
Gates, 63, president of Texas A&M University, rose through the CIA ranks to become its head. He has no military service.
With only two years left in the Bush administration, Gates will have little time or political clout to make significant changes at the Pentagon, analysts say.
Virginia Republican Sen. John W. Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, commended Bush's selection of Gates and said of Rumsfeld, "We had a good, strong working relationship. I wish him well in his next chapter."
Warner said he hopes the Armed Services Committee will confirm Gates before the end of congressional business this year.
Democrat Jim Webb, who was leading Republican Sen. George Allen in the Virginia Senate race, said he was pleased there will be a new defense secretary, but he had a different view about timing.
"I believe that the new Senate should be the body that examines Bob Gates' qualifications for confirmation," Webb said in a statement.
Gates graduated in 1965 from the College of William and Mary, where he majored in history. He received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the college in 1998 and in 2000 received the Alumni Medallion from the William and Mary Alumni Association.
"Bob Gates will very soon remind the country that his life and work reflect his alma mater's tradition of engaged, ennobling public service," W&M President Gene R. Nichol said in a written statement.
Washington correspondent Peter Hardin and staff writer Andrew Petkofsky contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2006, Media General News Service
