A fourth former US army general in less than a month today called on the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to resign over his handling of the war in Iraq.

Retired Major General John Batiste - who commanded the US 1st Infantry Division in Iraq from 2004 until last year - criticised Mr Rumsfeld's authoritarian style and called for a "fresh start" at the top of the Pentagon.

"We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork," Maj Gen Batiste said.

He told CNN he believed the Bush administration's handling of the war had violated fundamental military principles such as unity of command and unity of effort.

He said negative feelings among US generals he served with were widespread, and there was almost universal belief that Mr Rumsfeld did not treat military leaders and their opinions with respect.

The Washington Post reported that the retired soldier had been offered a promotion to three-star rank to return to Iraq, and would have become the second most senior US officer in the country.

He declined because he no longer wanted to work under Mr Rumsfeld.

His comments followed similar attacks by three other retired generals who either served in Iraq or the Middle East.

Last month, Paul Eaton, a former major general who was in charge of training Iraqi forces until 2004, said Mr Rumsfeld was "not competent to lead our armed forces".

He said the US defence secretary had shown himself "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically", and was "far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1753266,00.html

The Ingredients of a Military Coup
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO309A.html

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Republican policies have made us WEAK militarily, diplomatically, economically, environmentally, and in homeland security.