WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee, issued the following statement today on the ‘resignation’ of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld:

“What is even more important than having a new secretary of defense is having a smart, new and successful policy in Iraq. America’s soldiers and their families have paid an enormous price for the failed policy of President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld in Iraq, a war that has made America less safe, not stronger.

“The fact is that President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld have stayed the course of failure, together, for too long. Now, after seeing their Iraq war repudiated by the American people in the polls, the President has jettisoned his Defense Secretary. I and many others have long called for Secretary Rumsfeld’s resignation. He should have resigned when he failed to send an adequate number of troops to Iraq, or when he failed to send those troops with adequate armor, or when he failed to change course and take responsibility for the numerous failures of this war.

“It is a tragedy that the President did not take this step sooner but it is welcome at this time nonetheless. Now it is time for a new direction in Iraq.”

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