Rumsfeld Resigns Over Iraq [VIDEO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 11:00 AM on November 8, 2006.

Bush accepted Rumsfeld's resignation today, a cause of celebration for the many Americans -- including Generals, general military, and military papers -- who have called for it as it became more and more apparent that Iraq was descending into chaos. But why today?

CNBC analysts Sue Herera and John Harwood discuss the effect and politics of the Rummy resignation in the clip to the right (with images gruffly thrown together by PEEK). Rough transcript below...

john, is this enough for the president to have don rumsfeld resign? sit going to be enough in -- is it going to be enough in the public eye do you think to signal a shift in strategy?

i think it is not going to be enough. we have asked this question several times in our journal nbc poll and find out it would be a symbolic gesture. really american people want to see results. they want to see casualties down, and they are increasingly looking to iraqis to take over this situation. it looks to americans like a civil war. they don't want american troops to baby sit a civil war. the president on the other hand does not want to cut and run. he's told us that many many times. we have to see what sort of policy might be forged. jim baker has suggested former secretary of state under this president's father

a long time bush advisor.

exactly so that there is some sort of middle ground here. we will see what jim baker might have come up with.

this could be in essence a very brilliant move by the administration to change the conversation. it changes the conversation from the results of the election to a change in strategy in iraq. in other words, we are listening exactly what nancy pelosi said. she said the democrats are listening to the american voice. the president can now say the same thing, can he not, at 1:00?

Tagged as: bush, iraq, rumsfeld

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.