Rumsfeld's Exit

National Review Online

Donald Rumsfeld is out as secretary of Defense. His departure was a necessary precondition for President Bush to win any measure of public support for the sort of fresh departures his Iraq policy needs. It was also justified on the merits. More than three years on, the Iraq War is arguably going more poorly than ever.

Rumsfeld had lost the ability to speak with much credibility about the war. He has become a radioactive figure partly because of vicious and unfair attacks on him from the left and (occasionally) the right, attacks from which we have often defended him. But he is also radioactive because he is associated with the biggest failure of the Bush administration, one that sank the Republican party in Tuesday’s elections and that, much more importantly, threatens a dangerous and long-lasting setback to the interests of the United States.