The resignation of Donald Rumsfeld is more of a reflection about the incompetence and malevolence of the President as it is the Secretary of Defense.

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The forced resignation of Donald Rumsfeld the day after the midterm elections says as much about the Secretary of Defense as it does about the President of the United States. Almost seven months before the elections, six retired generals, including two who commanded divisions in Iraq, called for Rumsfeld's resignation. In response, President Bush said that Rumsfeld was "doing a fine job." Two months before the midterm elections, Josh Bolten, the President's chief of staff, told the Democratic leadership, who had demanded Rumsfeld's resignation, "We strongly disagree." By the President's direction, he told the opposition party that Rumsfeld "is an honorable and able public servant [who] retains the full confidence of the President." One week before the midterm elections, President Bush said that Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney "are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them." Lying through his ever-present smirk, he said he planned to keep Rumsfeld until the end of his term; with Cheney, a constitutionally-elected politician, he had no choice. The only comment the President hadn't made the previous few weeks was, "Rummy, you're doing a heckuva job." In an unprecedented shift of editorial philosophy, the Army Times, Navy Times, Marine Times, and Air Force Times, private publications with a pro-military slant, all called for Rumsfeld's resignation: "One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: 'mission accomplished,' the insurgency is 'in its last throes,' and 'back off,' we know what we're doing, are a few choice examples. . . . "Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt." As the thunder of an impending Democratic victory began to emerge, Republican candidates cut and ran from the Bush?Cheney?Rumsfeld?Gonzales?Rice Neocon Coalition. The Republicans' catharses were based not upon principle but upon their political survival. In both TV and newspaper ads, many even refused to label their party affiliation, hoping to sneak their re-election campaigns past a naive electorate that they hoped would believe the Republican Congress had nothing to do with the fiasco in Iraq nor the methodical dismantling of Constitutional freedoms at home Extensive exit polling by several organizations revealed that as many as 60 percent of the electorate, by voting Democratic, had registered protest votes to the leadership of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Only one-third of the nation supported Cheney; the support for Rumsfeld was only slightly better. The day after the midterm elections, with both houses of Congress about to be in Democratic control for the first time in 12 years, Donald Rumsfeld resigned. And-surprise!-the replacement was standing next to the President and his soon-to-be former secretary of defense. President Bush praised Rumsfeld as "one of America's most skilled and capable national security leaders . . . a superb leader during a time of change [whose] service has made America stronger, and made America a safer nation." Because of him, said President Bush, "the world is more secure." To the man who planned and executed the war in Iraq, the President said, "You will be missed." This was said about a secretary of defense who with the President and Vice-President lied to the people about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and then made up stories about Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al-Qaeda. This was a secretary of defense who boldly told the world that the United States planned to "shock and awe" Iraq, who said he doubted the war would last six months, and who isolated Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army's chief of staff, who disagreed with his assessment of how many troops would be needed in Iraq. This was a secretary of defense who was furious when he heard about what happened at Abu Ghraib, but who had approved innumerable plans that paved the road to torture. This was a secretary of defense who once said, "It's easier to get into something than get out of it," but had no viable plan for occupation nor did he tolerate senior military officers who pushed for such a plan. This was a secretary of defense who had vigorous disagreements with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had been chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first Gulf War. This was a secretary of defense who cautioned that Americans must not "divide the world into 'them' and 'us,'" but like the rest of the Neocon Cabal believed, "If you're not with us, you're for the terrorists." But, this is also one of the brightest persons to have served in any President's cabinet, a man who brought much-needed change to the Pentagon. His intelligence and arrogance were never greater than in how he deftly handled the media. When inept reporters asked inane questions, Rumsfeld shot right back at them, sometimes with sarcastic humor, avoiding the political niceties that other cabinet officers were burdened with. Soon, he began asking and then answering his own questions. Almost everything in Rumsfeld's past suggested unprecedented success. He received both academic and military scholarships to Princeton. Upon graduation, he became a Navy pilot, retiring as a captain after three years of active duty, followed by almost 30 years in the Ready Reserve and Standby Reserves. He had begun his public career as a Congressional administrative assistant, and was elected four times to Congress as a Republican from Illinois. His public service includes serving as counselor to President Nixon, and as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity and director of the Economic Stabilization Program. Nixon appointed him NATO ambassador, but the President's resignation amid scandal led Rumsfeld to return to Washington, D.C., to become President Ford's chief of staff and, for two years, secretary of defense. Under President Ford, he was the youngest secretary of defense; under President Bush, he became the oldest person to serve in that position. After Jimmy Carter was inaugurated president in 1977, Rumsfeld left government and became one of the more successful business executives, earning honors from the pharmaceutical industry, the Wall Street Transcript, and Financial World as the nation's outstanding CEO. George H.W. Bush had distrusted both Rumsfeld and Cheney; that was not the case with Bush the Younger who understood a political reality-with Dick Cheney came Donald Rumsfeld; they had worked together, understood each other, and would be a formidable presence for the newly-elected and untested president. They, along with some of Bush the Elder's confidantes, would have power, while the new president was in presidential day care for much of his first term. The six years Rumsfeld was with George W. Bush is how the nation will remember the former "boy wonder." But, it isn't just Donald Rumsfeld who should carry the burden of the failure of this Administration in rushing into Iraq and then being trapped in a quagmire they created. President Bush frequently refers to himself as a wartime president, embellishing the role of commander-in-chief. Josh Bolten told the Democratic leadership that Rumsfeld "has pursued vigorously the President's vision for a transformed U.S. military" and has "played a lead role in forging and implementing many of the policies" in Iraq. The President said that his Secretary of Defense "has been dedicated to his mission [and] loyal to his President." Donald Rumsfeld once said, "In the execution of Presidential decisions, work to be true to his views, in fact and tone." He has done that. Donald Rumsfeld's resignation won't solve the problems that his commander-in-chief created-either from indiffere nce or incompetence, from naïveté or malevolence. The people have finally spoken-"Bushie, you're doing a heckuva job."

Authors Website: http://www.walterbrasch.com

Authors Bio:

Walter Brasch is an award-winning journalist and professor of journalism emeritus. His current books are Before the First Snow: Stories from the Revolution , America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights, and 'Unacceptable': The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, available at amazon.com, borders.com and most major on-line bookstores. BEFORE THE FIRST SNOW is also available at www.greeleyandstone.com (20 discount)

Walter Brasch, a deeply valued Senior Editor at OpEdNews passed from this world on February 9, 2017, age 71, his obituary follows:

Walter M. Brasch, Ph.D., age 71, of 2460 Second Street, Bloomsburg (Espy), died Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville surrounded by his family.

He was an award-winning former newspaper reporter and editor in California, Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio; professor emeritus of mass communications and journalism at Bloomsburg University; and an award-winning social issues journalist and book author.

Walter was born March 2, 1945, in San Diego, the son of Milton Brasch and Helen (Haskin) Brasch and was a 34 year resident of Espy.

In his early years he was a writer-producer for multimedia and film companies in California, and a copywriter and political analyst for advertising and public relations companies. For five years during the late 1990s, he was the media and social issues commentator for United Broadcasting Network. He was also the author of a syndicated newspaper column since 1992 and the creative vice-president of Scripts Destitute of Phoenix.

Dr. Brasch was a member of the Local Emergency Planning Committee and was active in the Columbia County Emergency Management Agency. He was vice-president of the Central Susquehanna chapter of the ACLU, vice-president and co-founder of the Northeast Pennsylvania Homeless Alliance, a member of the board of the Keystone Beacon Community for healthcare coordination, and was active in numerous social causes. He was co-founder with his wife Rosemary Brasch of The Oasis, a biweekly newsletter for families and friends of personnel stationed in the Persian Gulf. Later, during Operation Iraqi Freedom, they published The Oasis 2, for families of persons in combat zones. They were supported by the Bloomsburg Chapter, America Red Cross and Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.

He was the author of 20 books, most which fuse historical and contemporary social issues. Among his books are Black English and the Mass Media (1981); Forerunners of Revolution: Muckrakers and the American Social Conscience (1991); With Just Cause: The Unionization of the American Journalist (1991); Sex and the Single Beer Can: Probing the Media and American Culture (1997); Brer Rabbit, Uncle Remus, and the 'Cornfield Journalist': The Tale of Joel Chandler Harris (2000); The Joy of Sax: America During the Bill Clinton Era (2001); Unacceptable: The federal Response to Hurricane Katrina (2005); America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights (2006); Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush (2007);  and Before the First Snow (2011). He was co-author of The Press and the State (1986), awarded Outstanding Academic Book distinction by Choice magazine, published by the American Library Association.

His last book is Fracking America: Sacrificing Health and the Environment for Short-Term Economic Benefit (2015), a critically-acclaimed novel that looks at what happens when government and energy companies form a symbiotic relationship, using "cheaper, cleaner" fuel and the lure of jobs in a depressed economy but at the expense of significant health and environmental impact.

During the past two decades, he won more than 150 regional and national media awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, Society of Professional Journalists, National Federation of Press Women, USA Book News, Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group, Pennsylvania Press Club, Pennsylvania Women's Press Association, Pennsylvania Associated Press Broadcasters Association, Penn-writers, International Association of Business Communicators, Pacific Coast Press Club, and Press Club of Southern California. He was recognized in 2012 by the Pennsylvania Press Club with the Communicator of Achievement award for lifetime achievement in journalism and public service.

He was an Eagle Scout; co-recipient of the Civil Liberties Award of the American Civil Liberties Union, 1996; and was honored by San Diego State University as a Points of Excellence winner in 1997. In 2000, he received the Herb Caen Memorial Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. For the Pennsylvania Humanities Council he was twice named a Commonwealth speaker. He also received the meritorious achievement medal of the U.S. Coast Guard.

At Bloomsburg University, he earned the Creative Arts Award, the Creative Teaching Award, and was named an Outstanding Student Advisor. He received the first annual Dean's Salute to Excellence in 2002, a second award in 2007, and the Maroon and Gold Quill Award for nonfiction. He was the 2004 recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Service Award. For 22 years, he was Editor-In-Chief of the awarding-winning Spectrum Magazine, part of the journalism program of the Department of Mass Communications, Bloomsburg University until his retirement in 2010.  The community magazine was published twice a year by students for residents of Columbia and Montour counties in northeastern Pennsylvania and one of the few to be inducted into the national Associated Collegiate Press hall of fame. The magazine was also a consistent award winner in competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia Scholastic Press Association, and the American Scholastic Press Association. He primarily taught magazine editing and production, public affairs reporting, feature writing, newspaper editing; every Fall, he taught a 250-student section on mass communications and the popular arts.

 Dr. Brasch was co founder of the qualitative studies division of the Association for Education in Journalism, president of the Keystone State professional chapter and for three years deputy regional director of the Society of Professional Journalists, from which he received the Director's Award and the National Freedom of Information Award. He was president of the Pennsylvania Press Club, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Women's Press Association, and founding coordinator of Pennsylvania Journalism Educators. He was a featured columnist for Liberal Opinion Week, senior correspondent for the American Reporter, senior editor for OpEdNews, and an editorial board member of Journalism History and the Journal of Media Law and Ethics.

He was a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, Author's Guild, National Writers Union (UAW/AFL-CIO), The Newspaper Guild (CWA/AFL-CIO), and the Society of Environmental Journalists. He was a life member of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, and was indicted into the national scholarship honor societies Phi Kappa Phi (general scholarship), Kappa Tau Alpha (journalism), Pi Gamma Mu (social sciences), and Kappa Tau Alpha (sociology.) He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, Contemporary Authors, Who's Who in the Media and Who's Who in Education. Dr. Brasch earned an A.B. in sociology from San Diego State College, an M.A. in journalism from Ball State University, and a Ph.D. in mass communication/journalism, with a cognate area in both American government/public policy and language and culture studies, from The Ohio State University.

He is survived by his wife of 34 years, the former Rosemary Renn the most wonderful thing that happened in his life and whom he loved very much; two sons, Jeffery Gerber, Phoenix AZ and Matthew Gerber and his wife, Laurel  (Neyhard)  of Bloomsburg, a sister, Corey Brasch of Sacramento, Calif; a niece, Terri Pearson-Fuchs, Calif, numerous cousins; and his beloved dogs Cabot and Remy.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m. at the Dean W. Kriner Inc. Funeral Home & Cremation Service,  325 Market St., Bloomsburg with family friend, Nathaniel Mitchell officiating. Interment in Elan Memorial Park, Lime Ridge.

Friends may call at the funeral home on Tuesday from 6 - 8 p.m. or Wednesday from 1-2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Walter M. Brasch Scholarship Fund,

c/o First Keystone Community Bank, 2301 Columbia Blvd, Bloomsburg, PA 17815 or to

Mostly Mutts, 284 Little Mountain Rd., Sunbury, PA 17801