Pundits and commentators who have reacted to the Bob Woodward book story have overlooked the real news.
It's not a revelation that President Bush and others in the administration ignored recommendations to increase U.S. troops in Iraq. What is a revelation (and rather disturbing news at that) is the fact that it took a personal request of the president to get America's secretary of defense to return the calls of the national security adviser.
It's tough enough for an administration to manage rapidly changing events on the ground in Iraq. But when key members of the foreign policy team are not even talking to each other, it's virtually impossible.
A college student who decides to give a sorority sister the "silent treatment" is acting silly. But an arrogant defense secretary like Rumsfeld who refuses to return the phone calls of a national security adviser is way beyond silly; it's personal arrogance trumping our foreign policy goals.
It is no overstatement to contend that Rummy's impertinent "talk to the hand" behavior undermined our efforts in Iraq and may even have cost the lives of U.S. servicemen.
How can the president or any member of Congress continue to defend this secretary of defense?
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