Lawmakers Chide Rumsfeld for Auto-Signed Sympathy Letters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did not personally sign his name on letters of condolence to families of troops killed in Iraq but instead had it done by a machine, an action lawmakers said on Sunday showed insensitivity and was inappropriate for leadership during war.
Rumsfeld acknowledged that he had not signed the letters to family members of more than 1,000 U.S. troops killed in action and in a statement said he would now sign them in his own hand. "This issue of the secretary of Defense not personally signing the letters is just astounding to me and it does reflect how out of touch they are and how dismissive they are," Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"I have no confidence in Rumsfeld," Hagel added.
... But President Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card emphasized White House support for Rumsfeld on Sunday.
He "is doing a spectacular job, and the president has great confidence in him," Card told ABC's "This Week" program...
(Psst- hey Andy - I think the troops have already characterized the job that Rummy's doing as "craptacular".)
So, Rummy gets the dreaded "vote of confidence" from Dubya, which leads me to believe that Rumsfeld could be ex-SecDef before Santa sleighs into town. As sukabi previously noted, the sharks smell blood and Rummy has just become chum. Indeed. It's just a damn shame he doesn't have the time to dash off a personal note of condolence to the families of the proletariat "chum" he's shipped to Iraq in the last couple of years.
