Rumsfeld To Be Sacrificed?

There are signs that El Busho is waking up to the fact that his neo-con colleagues are to blame for most of his current woes. Bush very publicly endorsed Condoleeza Rice's new Washington-based "Iraqi Stabilization Group", but Rumsfeld says he wan't even told about it.

Typically, Bush faltered as he announced the new move:

"Condi's job, and Condi's team is going to make sure that the efforts are... continue to be co-ordinated."

Typically, Rumsfeld went straight into attack mode, arranging interviews with four European news organisations including the Financial Times. Rumsfeld says he wasn't even advised of the changes before they were announced on television and through a confidential White House memo. He argues that the changes do not amount to a substantial shift in policy and he challenges Rice to make the memo public if she wants to wrest power away from him.

The FT claims that Rumsfeld seemed "perturbed" that Ms Rice had drawn attention to the memo by "backgrounding" the media.

"I don't know quite what the purpose of the backgrounding was . . . she gave a background, she said what she said, and the way I read the memorandum is that it is basically what the responsibility of the NSC is and always has been, which is what's been going on," he said.

When pressed by reporters, Rumsfeld lost it: "I said I don't know. Isn't that clear? You don't understand English? I was not there for the backgrounding."

Could it be that Bush already knows full well who leaked the name of Wilson's wife? Is he preparing to dump the failed neo-cons from his re-election bid? Is this the end of Rumsfeld? Or is Bush too weak and STUPID to stand up to the men who installed him in the Oval Office?

Rice originally told the NY Times that Rumsfeld was involved in the re-organisation. So did White House press secretary Scott McClellan, who earlier said that that Rumsfeld was "very involved" in the changes. A few hours later and McClellan was back-pedalling furiously: "I received some bad information about that."

Rumsfeld has no doubt been feeling the pressure from recent events in Iraq. But now he has made a BIG mistake by going public with his greivances. Still, what would you expect from an arrogant man like that? If it is indeed time to write a political obituary for "Rummy", the Guardian has made an entertaining start.