US President George W. Bush sacrificed his right-hand man in the Iraq War, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as his administration scrambled on Wednesday to find its feet after a bruising election defeat that brought the Democrats to power in Congress.
Only days after saying Rumsfeld would stay until the end of the Bush administration in 2009, the president accepted the resignation of the man who had become synonymous with the Iraq War, the broader "war on terror" and the neo-conservative project to pacify the Middle East. Former CIA director Robert Gates will be the new defense secretary, Bush said.
Bush admitted that his party had received "a thumping" in Tuesday's elections. Democrats won the House of Representatives with a net gain of about 30 seats.
"I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made" in Iraq, he said at a news conference at the White House. "Yet I also believe most Americans -- and leaders here in Washington from both political parties -- understand we cannot accept defeat."
The future of the Senate remained uncertain on Wednesday. The Democrats controlled 50 seats, after a tight race in Montana was declared in their favor. The Republicans controlled 49.
The last Senate seat, in Virginia, was still undecided as poll workers counted absentee and provisional ballots watched by lawyers. Democratic candidate James Webb held a narrow lead over Republican incumbent George Allen.
The election broke the Republican monopoly of power in Washington which has lasted for most of Bush's presidency, apart from an 18-month spell when the Democrats held a one-vote majority in the Senate. The Democrats have not held the House for 12 years.
Bush pledged to work together with the Democrats in Congress, and is due to have lunch today with House speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco congresswoman who, when sworn in, will be second in line in presidential succession after Vice President Dick Cheney.
A few days before Tuesday's vote Pelosi described the president as "incompetent," "dangerous" and "in denial." Bush said he accepted that such language was all part of the campaigning and pointed out he had been in tough contests before.
"This isn't my first rodeo," he said.
Pelosi also promised to try to bring "civility and bipartisanship" to Washington, but said the Democratic gains on Tuesday reflected a deep desire among Americans for change, particularly in Iraq.
"It will give a fresh start to finding a solution to Iraq, rather than staying the course," Pelosi said.
It was unclear yesterday how much of a change of course in Iraq Rumsfeld's departure indicated. Bush has said he was open to the suggestions of a bipartisan panel, the Iraq Study Group, of which Gates is a member, which is due to make recommendations in a few weeks.
Bush said that he, like the Democrats, wanted the troops to come home, but he wanted them "to come home to victory."
Daniel Goure, a Pentagon adviser and a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in Washington, said the choice of Gates suggested that Bush was not prepared to make a significant change of direction.
"The more things change the more they remain the same," Goure said. "Bob Gates is the second to last person I would expect to be chosen. He has no military experience but the point is he will not cross the president and vice-president."
Days before Tuesday's vote, Bush denied any plans to dispense with Rumsfeld, saying he was doing "a fantastic job." Yesterday he argued he had not wanted "to inject such a major decision into the last days of the campaign."
He said he had made the decision "after a series of thoughtful conversations" with Rumsfeld, and a meeting with Gates at his Crawford ranch on Sunday.
Rumsfeld had offered his resignation before, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in 2003, but the president turned it down. At yesterday's press conference, Bush was asked whether he had full confidence in Cheney and whether the vice president would stay on.
"Yes he does, yes he will," the president replied.
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
The first Donald Trump term was a boon for Taiwan. The administration regularized the arms sales process and enhanced bilateral ties. Taipei will not be so fortunate the second time around. Given recent events, Taiwan must proceed with the assumption that it cannot count on the United States to defend it — diplomatically or militarily — during the next four years. Early indications suggested otherwise. The nomination of Marco Rubio as US Secretary of State and the appointment of Mike Waltz as the national security advisor, both of whom have expressed full-throated support for Taiwan in the past, raised hopes that
Authorities last week revoked the residency permit of a Chinese social media influencer surnamed Liu (劉), better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), who has more than 440,000 followers online and is living in Taiwan with a marriage-based residency permit, for her “reunification by force” comments. She was asked to leave the country in 10 days. The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Tuesday last week announced the decision, citing the influencer’s several controversial public comments, including saying that “China does not need any other reason to reunify Taiwan with force” and “why is it [China] hesitant
We are witnessing a sea change in the government’s approach to China, from one of reasonable, low-key reluctance at rocking the boat to a collapse of pretense over and patience in Beijing’s willful intransigence. Finally, we are seeing a more common sense approach in the face of active shows of hostility from a foreign power. According to Article 2 of the 2020 Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), a “foreign hostile force” is defined as “countries, political entities or groups that are at war with or are engaged in a military standoff with the Republic of China [ROC]. The same stipulation applies to
RSS