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It's worth observing that the surge was part of Condoleezza Rice's "clear, hold build" strategy. Rumsfeld was fired and she was brought in to implement it. I t
by jordanb 16y ago
It's worth observing that the surge was part of Condoleezza Rice's "clear, hold build" strategy. Rumsfeld was fired and she was brought in to implement it.
I think that should help put Rumsfeld and criticism of him in a little bit of context. Yes, he was a Bush administration official heavily involved in the Iraq war and got a lot of criticism from that. But he was in rare company by being someone who was fired in disgrace from the Bush administration as things came apart under his watch. The only other guy I can think of offhand who is in that group is Micheal Brown.
- stretchwithme 16y agoRumsfeld was replaced by Robert Gates after the mid term election in 2006. Rice was secretary of state for the entire second term.
- jordanb 16y agoSorry, yes, you're correct, Rice remained Secretary of State. But Rumsefeld's firing was a repudiation of his "Light Footprint" strategy in favor of the "Clear, Hold, Build" strategy being championed by Rice. http://books.google.com/books?id=dhff3C6xhvkC&pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=%22clear,+hold,+and+build%22+rice&source=bl&ots=Kawmdahcji&sig=ysKQQDz9IBvQ52y6NZt-wGDPgUY&hl=en&ei=_FExTPTFEYPcnAfFx_TXAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22clear%2C%20hold%2C%20and%20build%22%20rice&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=dhff3C6xhvkC&pg=PA271&#...