Down with Rummy! say the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times

Andrew Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle has published a copy of an editorial scheduled to appear this coming Monday in the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times, all of which are published by a subsidiary of Gannett Co. Titled "Time for Rumsfeld to go", the editorial says in part:

And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.

Now, the president says he'll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.

This is a mistake.

It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation's current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.

These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority.

And although that tradition, and the officers' deep sense of honor, prevent them from saying this publicly, more and more of them believe it.

Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

As gratifying as it is to see a nasty character like Rumsfeld embarassed this way, I'm not entirely comfortable with the implications of this. The "American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority" is not just some cultural trend. It's a bedrock principle of democracy.

And it's not just tradition or honor that's involved. It's a violation of military regulations for a serving member of the armed forces to publicly criticize anyone in their chain of command, which of course Rumsfeld is as head of the Defense Department.

I don't want to get carried away with the political theory of it right now. Let's just leave it at saying this is an important development.

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