Known and Unknown - Donald Rumsfeld [271]
“The choice of Mr. Bremer is a victory for the State Department over the Pentagon,” the New York Times promptly announced.19 “Some administration officials were so concerned that the move not look like a setback for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that they were considering having him announce it upon his return from Baghdad on Friday night, to make it look like a Pentagon initiative.”20
I didn’t know who “some administration officials” were, but from the Pentagon it looked like Deputy Secretary of State Armitage was again feeding the press his version of events. His leaks were so brazen that I finally mentioned them to Powell. “Colin, we have a problem,” I said in one such conversation on March 31, 2003. “Rich Armitage has been badmouthing the Pentagon all over town. It’s been going on for some time and it’s only gotten worse.”21
I asked Powell to try to manage his deputy. The President was facing rearguard disloyalty from a small band of “senior State Department officials” who were attacking the administration and the effort in Iraq in the press as anonymous sources.*
“I don’t know what the hell is in Armitage’s craw,” I told Powell, “but I’m tired of it.”23 Powell told me he would look into it. He expressed concerns about Wolfowitz, whom Powell claimed was leaking against him. I didn’t believe that was true. I made a point of repeatedly telling those I worked with at the Pentagon not to speak to the press against State, the CIA, the White House, or any members of the administration—no matter how strong the temptation. “If you’ve got a problem,” I told senior Pentagon staff, “come and see me.”24
Several months later the subject of leaking came up in a meeting with the President and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card in the Oval Office. Most of it was routine business—senior military nominations, an update on operations in Iraq, and preparations for our meeting later that morning with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. As the meeting closed, Bush raised the issues between the State and Defense Departments that were being leaked to the media.
“The controversy between DoD and State is hurting. It needs to stop,” the President said.25 I couldn’t have agreed more. It was what I had been counseling for over a year. The problem was that he was talking to the wrong person.
“Mr. President, I have repeatedly told my folks never to leak or trash their colleagues. All the evidence suggests that it is State that is trashing us. If anyone has any information that my folks at DoD are leaking anything or trashing anyone, tell me.”
Card interjected, “That’s what they say at State.”
“Look Andy, if it’s going both ways, I need to see evidence,” I responded.
The meeting left a sour taste in my mouth. The truth was that there weren’t stories in the newspapers about Defense officials anonymously criticizing their counterparts in the State Department.
The next day the President called me. “I’ve got great confidence in you and what your team at DoD is doing. I didn’t mean to send the wrong signal. You’re doing a fabulous job.”
“I appreciate the call, Mr. President. I may have taken yesterday’s meeting amiss, but if you feel there’s a war between the State and Defense Departments, it takes two to fight, and DoD isn’t fighting. What is happening is hurting you. If it gets to a point where the solution is for me to leave, I will do so in a second.”
“That’s a crappy solution,” Bush responded.
“It’s certainly not my first choice, but we need you in the White House, and if my leaving would help, I