|
CHICAGO,
IL – Even as the prison abuse scandal in Iraq widens, U.S. Representative
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a Chief Deputy Whip, today called President Bush’s
support for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld “disturbing” and a “public display
of the President’s inept leadership.”
“It
is disturbing that President Bush would continue to support Donald Rumsfeld,
a Defense Secretary whose leadership is being questioned by those in the
military, and a man who is a symbol of America’s failed policy in Iraq.
Donald Rumsfeld must go,” Schakowsky said.
She
added, “What does Donald Rumsfeld have to do in order to be fired by President
Bush? He remains the Secretary of Defense even after he was wrong
about how many troops we needed in Iraq. He is still at the Pentagon
even though he sent our soldiers into battle without enough up-armored
Humvees and body armor. And Donald Rumsfeld is in charge of our military
even after trying to minimize the gravity of the abuse and torture of Iraqi
prisoners.”
“As
Commander-in-Chief, it is President Bush’s duty to dishonorably discharge
Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld from his Cabinet. Unfortunately,
by publicly supporting Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush is displaying his
inept leadership to the American people and the rest of the world,” Schakowsky
concluded.
In
addition to calling on President Bush to fire Donald Rumsfeld, Schakowsky
had urged the President last week to suspend all contracts with private
military firms involved in the supervision, security or interrogation of
Iraqi prisoners and to provide Congress copies of such contracts. A report
by General Tugaba has implicated some contractors in the abuse of Iraqi
prisoners.
“There
are at least 20,000 highly-paid private military contractors operating
in Iraq, and the recent events underscore the fact that contractors operate
with little or no accountability to Congress or the American people,” Schakowsky
said. |
|