Retired three-star Marine Corps General Gregory Newbold became the third senior officer in recent weeks to demand that Rumsfeld resign.
I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat — Al Qaeda. … [The decision to invade Iraq] was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions — or bury the results.”
General Newbold, who retired four months before the invasion of Iraq partly out of opposition to the invasion plans, says that he went public after receiving encouragement from leaders in the military.
General Newbold’s criticism follows that of Major General Paul Eaton and General Anthony Zinni who have both called for Rumsfeld’s resignation in recent weeks.