The Three Liebermans

Face The Nation, October 26, 2003:

"The worst thing about Don Rumsfeld's time at the Pentagon, the uniform military feel deeply that he doesn't respect them, doesn't listen to them. That's not the kind of relationship that we need between a secretary of Defense and the military.

"Judgment about whether he stays or not is up to President Bush, but if I were president, I'd get a new secretary of Defense."

Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2004:

"Many argue that we can only rectify the wrongs done in the Iraqi prisons if Donald Rumsfeld resigns. I disagree. Unless there is clear evidence connecting him to the wrongdoing, it is neither sensible nor fair to force the resignation of the secretary of defense, who clearly retains the confidence of the commander in chief, in the midst of a war. I have yet to see such evidence. Secretary Rumsfeld's removal would delight foreign and domestic opponents of America's presence in Iraq."

Face The Nation, August 20, 2006:

"I... said that we needed a new secretary of defense, that things had gone so badly after Saddam was overthrown that we would benefit from new civilian leadership that the military--our uniformed military had confidence in."