Bush: Rummy is what we need

Anyone not surprised by this report from the Associated Press?

Bush Gives Rumsfeld Strong Show of Support

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

President Bush, brushing aside an intensifying clamor among retired military commanders for Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation, said Friday his defense secretary enjoys his full support and that Rumsfeld's leadership of the Pentagon was "exactly what is needed at this critical period."

Bush apparently issued his statement to put to rest increasing calls for the secretary to go because of criticism that he has mishandled the Iraq war and made other mistakes.

"I have seen first-hand how Don relies upon our military commanders in the field and at the Pentagon to make decisions about how best to complete these missions," Bush said in a written statement, issued while the president was spending the Easter weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains.