Rumsfeld Criticized by Influential Military Paper

The independent Army Times newspaper, read widely in the U.S. military, on Monday suggested Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon civilian and military leaders should be removed over the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal.

'This was not just a failure of leadership at the local command level. This was a failure that ran straight to the top. Accountability here is essential -- even if that means relieving top leaders from duty in a time of war,' the private weekly newspaper said in an editorial.

Army Times is one of four such publications owned by the Gannett Co., and has a circulation of about 250,000. The same editorial was carried in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps Times newspapers. - Army Times