Wednesday, June 04, 2003

Is Rummy getting on your nerves? According to this story he seems to be getting on everybodys nerves.

WASHINGTON - President Bush, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, and other top officials are spending hours coping with frequent, unsolicited attempts by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to make foreign policy, according to senior administration officials who are directly involved.

The officials said Bush himself had to quash a Rumsfeld proposal last month to send Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to South Korea to announce that the United States was pulling American troops off the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. The announcement, involving no prior consultation with allies, would have come on the eve of the first official visit to Washington by new President Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea.

The officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, said such a move would have embarrassed Roh and sent the wrong signals to North and South Korea about the steadfastness of the US commitment to defend South Korea.

From his first days in office, Rumsfeld has inundated Washington with a blizzard of memos regarding foreign policy, not usually the responsibility of a defense secretary.

''There are literally thousands of them,'' said one frequent recipient of Rumsfeld's foreign policy ideas and advice. ''The theme is control. He wants everyone to have to play on his field.''


Thanks to Greg at The Talent Show for the link.
|