Replacing Rumsfeld won't lead to change

THE ISSUE Senator Inouye joined 11 other Democrats asking President Bush to consider replacing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

LABOR DAY has been the traditional beginning of the nation's political campaign season, and rhetoric became noticeably shrill during the past week. The term "Islamo-fascism" and warnings of "appeasement" came from the White House, and a united Democratic leadership of Congress called for the replacement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Further polarization will not bring an end to the Iraq war.

In a speech to an American Legion convention last week in Salt Lake City, Rumsfeld compared critics of the Bush administration's war policies with those who "ridiculed or ignored" the threat of the Nazis in the 1930s. Bush followed up with a speech this week alluding to challenges by Lenin and Hitler.

Democratic congressional leaders, including ranking Democrats on the Senate and House armed services, foreign relations and intelligence committees and defense appropriations subcommittees -- including Senator Inouye -- sent a letter to the White House this week asking that Bush consider replacing Rumsfeld. The letter undoubtedly has further entrenched Rumsfeld in the Pentagon.

"Creating Don Rumsfeld as a bogeyman may make for good politics but would make for very lousy strategy at this time," said presidential spokesman Tony Snow. That is not far from what Inouye remarked in May 2004 -- "I hate to see any one person be the fall guy" -- after Rep. Neil Abercrombie called for Rumsfeld's resignation over prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Of course, much has happened during the past two years. The U.S. death toll in Iraq has risen to more than 2,600, with no visible light at the end of this tunnel. Neither Bush nor Rumsfeld has given any indication that they disagree with each other about what the Democrats' letter described as "your stay the course strategy." Changes are needed, with or without Rumsfeld, to achieve a stable, secure and peaceful Iraq.