Word: rumsfeld
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...None of these heads would have rolled under Gates' predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, Pentagon officials suggest. Rumsfeld was loyal to a fault, and generally would back subordinates rather than sack them, since he would view that as tantamount to a rebuke of his own stewardship. He applied this kind of pre-emptive backing to big mistakes - like the poor execution of the military's occupation of Iraq - and lesser ones too, like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal...
...While such allegiance has its merits, it does begin to fray amid a long, drawn-out war. Rumsfeld notoriously refused to see the forces arrayed against the U.S. as guerrillas - when even his military commanders were using the word. Then he refused to agree that a civil war was ravaging the country. All the bickering did was to give his Washington foes a fat, juicy target to criticize - and his attitude curbed the military's enthusiasm to explore new and different ways of grappling with the growing insurgency, Pentagon officials...
...growing visibility of figures like Welch is one more sign of Dick Cheney's diminished role in the Bush war cabinet. During Bush's first term, the views of the U.S.'s diplomatic corps were largely dismissed by neoconservatives allied with Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But as the Iraq war drags on and its chief advocates fade, the diplomats are stealing some late-game limelight. That's due in large part to Rice, who has consolidated her authority over the Administration's foreign policy and made course corrections that have resulted in a denuclearization pact with North Korea...
...driving the train on this," said one, referring to Cheney's role in pushing Bush and the Administration inexorably toward an invasion of Iraq. "Analysis, advocacy - it's all done by Cheney or his protégés or his former mentor [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld]. It's about context. It's reflective not so much of Cheney's direct influence on the President as it is of his influence on - his dominance of - the decision-making process. It's about providing the facts and analysis to the decision maker that the decision maker needs. Bush is making...
...Some Pentagon officials praise Gates' emphasis on accountability; he seems less inclined than Rumsfeld to tolerate snafus. But more than a handful of people inside the Pentagon are wondering whether the new boss will ever apply the same standard to those actually waging...