Rumsfeld Changes Course

From today's New York Times, we learn that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is still on duty and sworn to uphold his office, recently wrote a memo outlining a menu of alternatives to the president's policy in Iraq. Notably, Rumsfeld did not recomend that we "stay the course" in Iraq. In fact, he specifically rcommended that we not stay the course.

This departure from the Bush doctrine in Iraq raises several questions:

--The first is a legal matter. According to the Times, the memo is a classified document that was "leaked" to the Times. Following the standard procedure of the Bush administration, such a leak of classified information would call for a criminal investigation. (Since we know the author, it should a simple matter to investigate: subpoena Rumsfeld, and ask him if he leaked it; if he denies it, ask him who else had access to it. Then, prosecute the hell out of whoever leaked it.) This should be the top priority for Attorney General Gonzalez first thing Monday morning.

--The second is a political matter. When "stay the course" was the Bush administration's policy, anyone who dissented from it was branded a wimp and a traitor who wanted the terrorists to win. Now that Rumsfeld says let's not stay the course, we have to ask, does that mean those people who adopted this position 6 or 12 or 18 months ago were foresighted? Or does it mean that Rumsfeld is now a disloyal wimp who wants the terrorists to win? According to the Bush doctrnie, there are no other categories. So which is it?