Ready, Aim, Fired!

At least four Democratic presidential candidates would deep-six Donald Rumsfeld. Last week Kucinich introduced a resolution in the House asking for Rumstud's removal, on grounds that "the chief architect and custodian of the invasion and occupation of Iraq must be held accountable for the conduct of the war and occupation." Asked by CNN whether Rummy should go, Kerry replied, "Yes. Absolutely. He has not listened to the military personnel. Our military is weak today." Dean said it's important for the Pentagon to start restoring its credibility in the world community and added, "That is not possible under the continued leadership of Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. They must go." And Clark said last month, "I'm concerned to read that Secretary Rumsfeld is only now acknowledging what we've known for some time—that this administration has no plan for Iraq and no long-term strategy for fighting terrorism." On two separate occasions recently, Clark said he would remove Rumsfeld and personally go to Iraq to meet with the ground commanders to develop an exit plan.

Meanwhile, a total of 26 House members have signed on as supporters of the resolution to dump Rummy. Charles Rangel of New York is the prime sponsor.

The full list follows:

Charles Rangel (NY), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Barbara Lee (CA), Lynn Woolsey (CA), Major Owens (NY), Julia Carson (IN), William Clay (MO), Raul Grijalva (AZ), Fortney Pete Stark (CA), Frank Pallone (NJ), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Bennie Thompson (MS), George Miller (CA), Danny Davis (IL), Hilda Solis (CA), Lloyd Doggett (TX), Sherrod Brown (OH), Jerrold Nadler (NY), Maxine Waters (CA), Gregory Meeks (NY), Jim McDermott (WA), Diane Watson (CA), Barney Frank (MA), Dennis Kucinich (OH), Marcy Kaptur (OH), Luis Gutierrez (IL)

Additional reporting: Ashley Glacel, Sheelah Kolhatkar, and Alicia Ng