Now this would explain a lot, wouldn't it Joe???
Rummy exit expected; Lieberman eyed for job
BY THOMAS M. DEFRANK and KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
And of course, Rumsfeld's denial.
CORRECTED: Rumsfeld says 'I have no plans to retire'
Rummy exit expected; Lieberman eyed for job
BY THOMAS M. DEFRANK and KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - White House officials are telling associates they expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit early next year, once a new government is formed in Iraq, sources said yesterday.
Rumsfeld's deputy, Gordon England, is the inside contender to replace him, but there's also speculation that Sen. Joe Lieberman - a Democrat who ran against Bush-Cheney in the 2000 election - might become top guy at the Pentagon.
That's not as farfetched as it might first appear.
The Daily News has learned that the White House considered Lieberman for the UN ambassador's job last year before giving the post to John Bolton, a Bush adviser said.
"He thought about it for a week or so and finally said no," the adviser recalled.
A source close to the White House said Rumsfeld wanted out a year ago, after Bush's reelection, but neither he nor President Bush wanted his departure to appear to have been forced.
"They didn't want to give the critics the satisfaction that their piling on was what got rid of him," a Bush adviser said.
Bush has told friends that Rumsfeld is a political liability, but the President has a history of sticking with his personnel baggage until an opportune moment.
"Only Rumsfeld will make Rumsfeld leave," a White House source said.
Rumors that Lieberman could replace Rumsfeld started flying early this week, and Bush and Vice President Cheney fanned the flames by quoting the former Democratic veep candidate's pro-war statements.
The mention of Lieberman's name prompted some Democrats to whisper that he is lobbying for the job.
"Lieberman seems to be coordinating his statements on the war with the White House," a Senate Democratic source said.
The source pointed to a news conference this week where Lieberman urged his party not to undermine Bush. The timing of Lieberman's pitch, also this week, to form a bipartisan "war cabinet" to aid Bush was cited as well.
But Lieberman and Team Bush dismissed the rumors.
"The U.S. Senate is where Sen. Lieberman wants to be, which is why he is actively campaigning for reelection to his fourth term," the senator's spokeswoman, Casey Aden-Wansbury, said.
And of course, Rumsfeld's denial.
CORRECTED: Rumsfeld says 'I have no plans to retire'
In WASHINGTON story headlined "Rumsfeld says 'I have no plans to retire'" ... please read in second paragraph ... New York Daily News ... instead of ... New York Post ...
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the craftsman of U.S. Iraq war strategy and a magnet for criticism, said on Thursday he had no plans to retire from the post more than 2-1/2 years into the conflict.
"Those reports have been flying around since about four months after I assumed my post in 2001," Rumsfeld, 73, told reporters on Capitol Hill when asked about a New York Daily News report that White House officials are telling associates they expect him to quit early next year.
"I have no plans to retire," added Rumsfeld, who has been criticized over the conduct of the Iraq and the treatment of detainees in U.S. military custody.
The New York Daily News reported that Gordon England, the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, was the "inside contender" to replace Rumsfeld, but that Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, also was a possibility.
In fact, the Defense Department said Rumsfeld held an early-morning meeting at the Pentagon on Thursday with Lieberman. The senator's views of the Iraq war, in contrast with many other Democrats, have been quoted approvingly in recent speeches by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld himself.
"He has breakfast with members of Congress all the time," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. "Senator Lieberman just returned from Iraq and he had some interesting observations. And he's been very outspoken about what he's seen and the progress that he thinks is being made there."
Rumsfeld has been criticized for the conduct of the war, with some prominent Democrats including Massachusetts senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry demanding his resignation. Rumsfeld also has had frosty relations even with fellow Republicans in Congress.
A combative former collegiate wrestler and Navy fighter pilot, Rumsfeld has established himself as the most powerful Pentagon chief since Vietnam War era defense secretary Robert McNamara. He was the youngest man to hold the job when President Gerald Ford appointed him in 1975 and now, in his second stint in the post, is the oldest.
Rumsfeld said in February that he twice offered his resignation to Bush last year over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, but both times was asked to stay in the job.
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