By Jessica Reed
It came as a surprise to many, regardless of their political affilitions. Democrats, Republicans and Conservatives all blogged their initial reactions as Donald Rumsfeld stepped down yesterday, even after George W. Bush said he would support his Secretary until the end of his own term. Matthew Good has an interesting take on the news:
I think the reason that Donald Rumsfeld has resigned is clear enough – given the results of last night, he would most likely have been the first member of the administration to be called before a Congressional Committee created to investigate pre and post war administration planning and policy. He would be, for the first time, truly challenged and no doubt questioned about a variety of Pentagon initiatives, among them the creation of the Strategic Support Branch, created to bypass CIA inclusion, allowing the Pentagon its own unfiltered intelligence capability (SAP’s being another hot topic). The problem, of course, is that such programs are run off the books, without oversight, and allow men like the Secretary enormous power over how intelligence is disseminated and used.
Picture via asurroca's flickR page
