Book Details Attempts to Oust Rumsfeld
WASHINGTON — President Bush's then-chief of staff tried to convince the president to fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on at least two occasions in the last two years, once with the support of First Lady Laura Bush, according to a new book by author and journalist Bob Woodward.
The first of the attempts by Andrew Card, made in November 2004, was thwarted by Vice President Dick Cheney, a longtime friend of Rumsfeld's, and Karl Rove, the White House political chief, who felt any move against Rumsfeld would be seen as an acknowledgment that the Iraq war was on the wrong course. The second effort, made a year later, came with Laura Bush's backing, the book says.
Some of the assertions in the book, "State of Denial," were made public Friday by Woodward's newspaper, the Washington Post, after other news organizations acquired copies ahead of Monday's official publication date. A spokesman for Simon & Schuster, the publisher, said the book's release had been moved up to today because of the disclosures.
The White House on Friday did not contradict Woodward's account of Card's efforts to oust Rumsfeld. But Tony Snow, Bush's spokesman, denied that either of the efforts were supported by the first lady, saying her office dubbed the suggestion "flatly not true."
Card "was asked to take a look at everybody, including himself," Snow said at a news conference. "It's typical -- as a matter of fact, quite often in administrations at this point, people are asked to submit their resignations. The president's commander in chief. He picks."
Asked about the book's contents by reporters traveling with him at a NATO meeting in Slovenia, Rumsfeld said he had not read the account -- or Woodward's previous books on the war. "I wouldn't hold your breath on this one," Rumsfeld said.
Another upcoming book on the Bush administration, a biography of former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell by Washington Post editor Karen DeYoung, will report that Powell was forced out of his job.
The account contradicts statements by the White House at the time -- as well as Powell's own resignation letter -- which made it appear that his decision to leave following the 2004 election was mutual. The excerpt from the book, "Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell," obtained by the Los Angeles Times ahead of next week's publication, recounts how Card broke the news to an unsuspecting Powell.
