Three Star Marine General Calls for Rumsfeld's Resignation

This is the third ex-general calling for Rumsfeld's ouster, with Neobold going farther, encouraging younger commissioned officers to reconsider their missions.

Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold Photo Courtesy: Department of Defense

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - A third retired U.S. general has called for the removal of Secretary of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asking him to step down over mistakes made in invading Iraq.

Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, a 3-star Marine Corps general, wrote an essay in this week's Time magazine, stating that the administration`s decision to invade Iraq, "was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions -- or bury the results."

Newbold left the Marine Corps in late 2002, after serving as director of operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2000 through Sept. 11th, 2001.

The essay in Time by Newbold comes on the heels of one on March 19th, by Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, another retired officer, who oversaw the training of Iraqi security forces in the year following the fall of Baghdad. Eaton wrote an Op-Ed article in The New York Times criticizing Rumsfeld's mismanagement of the war.

On April 2nd, Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of the military's Central Command which is responsible for operations in the Middle East, said in a television interview that Rumsfeld and others should be held accountable for mistakes in Iraq and that he should step down, according to UPI.

Scholars say this is the only time in U.S, history when senior officers who command or formerly commanded major contingents of the American military have spoken out so directly against the policies of a presidential administration and a secretary of defense.