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Saying Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large, a Military Times editorial calls on President Bush to fire him.

Published in the Nov. 13 issue of Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times, on newsstands Monday, the editorial says it is time for the president “to face the hard bruising truth.”

“His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt,” the newspapers say.

In a statement released on Saturday, Department of Defense spokesman Bryan Whitman said that “the new ‘chorus of criticism’ noted by the editorials is actually old news and does not include commanders in the field, who remain committed to the mission….The assertion, without evidence, that senior military officers are ‘toeing the line’ is an insult to their judgment and integrity.”

Read the editorial.

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