From the Clairemont Institute:

Rumsfeld's Fate and Bush's War on Bureaucracy

Victor Davis Hanson explains why Rumsfeld should stay, on NRO. He notes that democracies (Israel, pre-WW II US) often fail initially to have the arms adequate to defeat the enemy.


I would add that Bush's keeping Rumsfeld indicates the seriousness with which he takes his second term to be a war against bureaucracy. Before Iraq Rumsfeld was noted for his quarrels with Pentagon. He insisted on controversial reforms, often clashing with the desires of the top brass. As heroic and as vital as their service is, the top brass are often better at protecting their respective service's interests than the overall military interest of the country. That is the consequence of the military bureaucracy, and it takes someone from outside that system to reform it. See John Hillen's NRO thoughts on this theme.