The Iraq War, regardless of whether you supported the initial invasion or not, has been managed incompetently and the result is the death 2,660 American soldiers, a growing sectarian civil war, tens of thousands of innocent dead Iraqis, and hundreds of billions of your tax dollars tossed down the drain.
George Bush bears the most responsibility for this fiasco, since he is the President and Commander in Chief. But operationally the incompetence, malfeasance and irrational prosecution of this war can be laid at the feet of one man: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
It was Rumsfeld who decided to go in with a force too small to hold the country after defeating Saddam Hussein. It was Rumsfeld who declined to push manufacturers to ramp up production on life-saving armor for our troops. It was Rumsfeld who dismissed our NATO allies as "old Europe" instead of working with them to provide troops and resources. It is Rumsfeld who accuses honest Americans who point out his failures of being like Nazi appeasers.
It is Rumsfeld's failure, and President Bush refuses to hold him accountable.
And President Bush's friend Mike Ferguson (R-NJ7) is right there giving Rumsfeld a pass not only on his failures in Iraq but on his insulting of the 60+ percent of Ferguson's constituents who agree that the war has gone off the tracks.
In an interview last Friday on Regional News Network, Ferguson was twice asked if Rumsfeld went over the line, and twice Ferguson refused to say so.
RNN: Your response when our Defense Secretary recently compared those who have been critics of the White House and the administration policy in Iraq to "appeasers" as in WWII with Nazis an he even said "modern day fascism" in so many words. When you heard those comments did you think he crossed the line?
Ferguson: There's no question that Iraq is a serious challenge and we have a lot of work to do there and we need to make sure that we continue to be successful in waging and winning this global war on terror. And second guessing is not a strategy for success. We have to do all we can to win the global war on terror or that battle will turn to our shores.
RNN: When you use words like "fascist" and "appeasers" and bringing up Nazis and words like these in the analogy there's many Republicans such as Senator John McCain, Senator Chuck Hagel, Armed Services Committee members who have questioned the administration's plan in Iraq, and even those who don't want to bring the troops out right away have been very critical of it, some even calling for the dismissal of Donald Rumsfeld. So when the Defense Secretary uses that kind of language, do you think he crossed the line?
Ferguson: Those are his words, not my words. But I would say that the situation in Iraq is difficult. We need to do everything we can to bring our troops home as quickly as possible. I don't want them to be there a day longer than is necessary to win the battle there. It's clearly the central battle front on the global war on terror, it's a difficult situation, but we want our troops to come home as quickly as they can after finishing the job and they've done their job with extraordinary courage and competence and we have to continue to support them and do what we can to create the atmosphere so they can come home as quickly as possible.
Those are Mike Ferguson's words, ducking the question and refusing to hold the Bush administration and Donald Rumsfeld responsible.
But Ferguson's constituents can surely see through this smokescreen. I've been walking door-to-door and making phone calls throughout the district, and people regularly tell me that the Iraq War is one of their biggest worries. They know what Mike Ferguson refuses to acknowledge.
And it is definitely a bi-partisan position. Another of Mike Ferguson's constituents -- a Republican State Senator by the name of Tom Kean, Jr. - sent a press release last Sunday calling for Donald Rumsfeld's ouster.
But what compelled him to advocate publicly for a "fresh face" leading the troops, Mr. Kean said, were Mr. Rumsfeld's recent remarks chiding critics of the war for "moral and intellectual confusion," and comparing them to those who advocated appeasing Nazi Germany in the 1930's.
"By engaging in that kind of rhetoric, this secretary has stepped over the line," Mr. Kean said.
Kean Jr. wants to hold Rumsfeld accountable. I want to hold Rumsfeld accountable. The people of New Jersey's 7th Congressional District want to hold Rumsfeld accountable.
Mike Ferguson wants to let Rumsfeld continue his policy of incompetence and failure.
Why Mike? Why?