Outgoing Rumsfeld memo called for major Iraq changes
In a memo written days before he was ousted from his job, Rumsfeld outlined a series of options for U.S. forces including a partial withdrawal from Iraq or the pulling out of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities.
Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction.
Rumsfeld wrote: “Clearly what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.” He also suggested adopting some of Saddam Hussein’s practices. Rumsfeld wrote: “Provide money to key political and religious leaders (as Saddam Hussein did), to get them to help us.”
Nor did Mr. Rumsfeld seem confident that the administration would readily develop an effective alternative. To limit the political fallout from shifting course, he suggested the administration consider a campaign to lower public expectations.
The memorandum sometimes has a finger-wagging tone, as Mr. Rumsfeld says that the Iraqis must “pull up their socks,” and suggests that reconstruction aid should be withheld in violent areas to avoid rewarding “bad behavior.”
Other options called for shrinking the number of bases, establishing benchmarks that would mark the Iraqis’ progress toward political, economic and security goals and conducting a “reverse embeds” program to attach Iraqi soldiers to American squads.
The memo was finished one day after President Bush interviewed Robert M. Gates, the president of Texas A&M University, as a potential successor to Mr. Rumsfeld and one day before the midterm elections. By then it was clear that the Republicans appeared likely to suffer a setback at the polls and that the administration was poised to begin reconsidering its Iraq strategy.
The memo provides no indication that Mr. Rumsfeld intended to leave his Pentagon post. It is unclear whether he knew at that point that he was about to be replaced, though the White House has said that Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld had a number of conversations on the matter.
Told that The New York Times had obtained a copy of it, a Pentagon spokesman, Eric Ruff, confirmed its authenticity. “As it became clear that people were considering options for the way forward, the secretary had some views on the subject, and this memo reflects those views,” he said.
Confirmation hearings begin on Tuesday for Robert Gates – the man President Bush nominated to replace Rumsfeld.
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