The markets react to the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld:
US Stocks End Higher After Rumsfeld News
Military Contractors’ Shares Fall on News of Rumsfeld Resignation
Hmmm…..
Throw Condi on a Plane
Okay, Rumsfeld is out, Cheney is in his cave, here’s what you do:
Put the worst secretary of State since Colin Powell on a plane to Tehran. Have her tell them that we will leave Iraq and shut up about their enrichment of uranium to 3.6% for their electricity program as long as they remain subject to the NPT and IAEA safeguards and promise not to obliterate the minority Sunni Arabs of Iraq when we leave.
Since the Ayatollah Khamenei offered everything for nothing in 2003, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that he’ll take it.
Otherwise, the US could just leave them alone since Iran is really none of our business, but that’s just me.
Comments welcome at Stress.
Brother, Can You Spare a Cushy Job?
Where will all the disemployed GOP staffers and campaign workers in D.C. go now? To the think tanks, of course, including the “libertarian” ones.
Was Cheney On to Something?
Rummy Out — But Don’t Start Cheering Just Yet …
The announced resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is hardly a recognition of the election results. The reason is that the War Party has been calling for his resignation for not putting more troops in Iraq. Remember, neocon Bill Kristol was among the first to declare “Rummy must go!”, followed shortly by Andrew “Nuke Iraq” Sullivan.
Former CIA director Robert Gates, Rummy’s replacement, is well-known for politicizing intelligence during his tenure under George Herbert Walker Bush, yet some see him as firmly in the “realist” camp. Gates is the author, along with Zbigniew Brzezinski, of a Council on Foreign Relations study that advocates dealing directly with Iran. So the neocons aren’t going to like that. According to Chris Matthews on MSNBC, the President broke with Dick Cheney, who wanted to keep Rummy on, and also rejected the Vice President’s advice that he appoint a neoconservative ideologue to the post.
The neoconservative grip on American foreign policy is not yet ended, although it may be loosening.
Note: The firing of Rummy was telegraphed here.
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Rummy Takes the Fall
Expect a lot of “about time” from the neocons. Andrew Sullivan got the self-serving scapegoating started early this morning.