(2006-04-14) — Embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today refused to directly address calls from retired military officers that he should resign, instead he devoted his remarks to what he called “my philosophy of counterinsurgency.”

“The goal of an insurgent,” said Mr. Rumsfeld, “is to break your will. He lacks overwhelming force, political influence or lasting significance, and so he persistently nibbles at the edges, trying to drag down your morale and get you to give up.”

Although reporters repeatedly invited him to respond to a growing list of recently-retired Army and Marine generals who have accused him of incompetence, Mr. Rumsfeld said he must remain focused on the insurgency.

“In the long run, the insurgent’s only hope is to deceive the people,” he said. “These are bitter men, who have been marginalized and left behind in a new era of progress and freedom. So they lash out, hoping to somehow recover their own legacy in history by dragging down those who have supplanted them. Lacking a compelling vision of their own, they try to undermine the new paradigm.”

Critics have suggested replacing the septuagenarian Rumsfeld with a variety of more centrist figures, including Senators Joe Lieberman, D-CT, Chuck Hagel, R-NB, or even former-maverick Sen. John McCain, R-AZ. But the defense secretary brushed off all such questions.

“In their hearts,” he said, “the insurgents know there’s a reason they’re on the curb, rather than at the head of the parade. The march of history has passed them by.”

Asked if he feared that President George Bush would succumb to the drumbeat of criticism and dismiss him for political reasons, the defense secretary said, “I serve at the pleasure of the president, and just the other day, he said, ‘You’re doing a heck of a job, Rummy.’ So, I guess anything’s possible.”

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