Laura Bush 'backed plot to get rid of Rumsfeld'

London Telegraph / Philip Sherwell | October 1 2006

Laura Bush, the First Lady, joined in efforts to persuade her husband to sack Donald Rumsfeld as defence secretary during bitter in-fighting over Iraq within the Bush administration, according to a book published yesterday.

The president's wife reportedly told Andrew Card, George Bush's then chief of staff, that she believed Mr Rumsfeld's overbearing manner and handling of the war were harming her husband. "I don't know why he's not upset with this," she is quoted as saying. Her attempt to have Mr Rumsfeld replaced is revealed by Bob Woodward, the journalist who exposed the Watergate scandal, in a book that describes furious arguments within the US government over the Iraq war.

Woodward reports in State of Denial that the president twice rebuffed efforts by Mr Card to persuade him to fire the Pentagon chief, to give the administration a fresh start after his re-election in 2004. It claims Mr Card made his second attempt, with the support of Mrs Bush, in November.

The Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and Mr Bush's chief adviser, Karl Guru, on both occasions persuaded the president to stand by his beleaguered Pentagon chief.

advertisementThe book says Mr Rumsfeld even refused to take calls from Condoleezza Rice when she was National Security Adviser, until Mr Bush intervened.

Woodward also reveals a recent prediction by US military intelligence that the carnage will worsen next year.

The book's publication comes as the Iraq war dominates the campaign for next month's congressional elections, in which the Democrats could wrest control of both houses from the Republicans.

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