Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial:
DEFENSE SECRETARY DONALD RUMSFELD should resign and take his top deputies with him. That includes Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary Douglas Feith.
It's not just Mr. Rumsfeld's latest fiasco, the botched handling of the investigation of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.
It's not just that Mr. Rumsfeld seriously underestimated the number of U.S. troops required for the occupation of Iraq and the potential for American casualties.
It's not just that Mr. Rumsfeld seriously overestimated the threat from weapons of mass destruction.
It's not just that Mr. Rumsfeld ignored the State Department's plans for the occupation and relied on private security forces and private companies with no-bid contracts.
It's not just that U.S. policy in Iraq has devolved in dangerous ad hocery, with one day's decision reversed the next day.
It's not just that Mr. Rumsfeld had charged around the world insulting key allies.
It's the accumulation of all these miscalculations, misconceptions and missteps - and an arrogant inability to admit his mistakes - that require him to step down. If the Defense Department were a corporation, its CEO would be long gone..."
