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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
D-Day for Donald Rumsfeld
By Steve Turnham
CNN
 |  Under fire: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will appear before congressional committees Friday amid calls for his resignation. |
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| | ON CNN TV | 
Stay with CNN-USA for reaction, analysis and follow-up reports to the testimony Friday by U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld before the Senate and House armed services committees.
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VIDEO |
 CNN's Ed Henry on the Hill hearings at which Rumsfeld testifies.
 CNN's John King on President Bush saying he's 'sorry' for the Abu Ghraib abuse.
 CNN's Jamie McIntyre on the pressure on Rumsfeld to resign.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld goes under the klieg lights this morning, and it's no hype to say his job may well be on the line, despite the president's vote of confidence Thursday.
Five cameras will cover the Senate and House hearings from every conceivable angle. At least one of the broadcast networks plans to break into its usual daytime programming to carry the proceedings live, with the other broadcast networks likely to follow suit.
Needless to say, CNN will be gavel to gavel. The first hearing is expected at 11:45 a.m. ET, when Rumsfeld appears before a two-hour open hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Later, he faces a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee at 3 p.m.
Democrats no doubt will go at Rumsfeld hard, especially since so many called for him to resign or be fired Thursday. But we'll be watching the Republicans more closely. We noted that while many in the GOP yesterday blasted Democratic contentions that the war may now be unwinnable, there was little direct defense of the secretary.
"He'll tell his story and until he does it would be wise for people to withhold their judgment," said Sen. John Kyl, an Arizona Republican. "People should hold their fire and wait until the facts come in, then we can discuss this in a rational, nonpartisan way rather than in a way that gives comfort to our enemies."
One thing Republicans say they are sure about, Democrats will try to make this a presidential issue. Or as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay put it, speaking for the GOP opinion and about the Democrats: "They want to win the election more than they want to win the war, and our enemies know it."
Who to watch
Sen. John McCain has publicly clashed with the Bush administration before, and that's precisely why Republicans know that a supportive word from the Arizonan can do more to stem damage on national security problems than statements from more predictable allies.
McCain told us that calls for Rumsfeld's resignation are "wildly premature" until the secretary has had a chance to explain himself.
"You don't hang a man until he's had a chance to speak," he said. But Rumsfeld doesn't have much time to come up with a credible explanation for why Congress and the president were blindsided and how the abuse could have happened on his watch. And if he fails to convince the likes of John McCain today, he's in trouble.
Rumsfeld also has some damage to repair with the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner. Warner is said to have been deeply irritated by the Pentagon's failure to provide him quickly with a copy of the report that laid out the abuses (Warner's staff had to download it from the Web), and with the secretary's insistence on a time-limited hearing.
Can Rumsfeld survive all this? Senior GOP aides speaking on condition of anonymity couldn't guarantee that. They said it depends largely on how he does.
Rumsfeld hosted a small group of Armed Services Committee members yesterday morning and promised a "rational explanation" for what went wrong. According to one senator who was there, Rumsfeld appeared to be upbeat and confident.
Part of his defense will almost certainly be that the Pentagon did, in fact, tell the world about the abuses at Abu Ghraib back on January 16, so it shouldn't have come as a complete surprise. One of Rumsfeld's allies helpfully provided the following Centcom news release.
"BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An investigation has been initiated into reported incidents of detainee abuse at a Coalition Forces detention facility. The release of specific information concerning the incidents could hinder the investigation, which is in its early stages. The investigation will be conducted in a thorough and professional manner. The Coalition is committed to treating all persons under its control with dignity, respect and humanity. Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the Commanding General, has reiterated this requirement to all members of CJTF-7."
