Today's guardian leader:

Rumsfeld's hostage - Blair has been outmanoeuvred

"Mr Rumsfeld is a total believer in the case set out in Eliot Cohen's influential book Supreme Command for politicians to impose their own military views on the generals. When, more than a year ago, Mr Rumsfeld received General Tommy Franks's first draft of the Iraq invasion plan, he sent it straight back, saying the plan was too troop-heavy.

...

Mr Rumsfeld cares little about the Middle East peace process, less still about giving the UN a central role in Iraq reconstruction, and least of all about a new multilateral world order enforced through global rules applying to all nations including the US. He has worked for this moment for years. He has manoeuvred the administration into the war. He has set its terms and imposed its timetable and he has refused to allow them to be changed or compromised. He is the principal author of the premature and misconceived unilateral invasion which, thanks to Mr Blair's weakness, has set Britain against international law and diplomacy, wrecked our alliances, convulsed our politics and thrown every part of Labour's project into doubt. With friends like Mr Rumsfeld, who needs enemies?"

Ergo, for an unprecedented second time this year:



This week's: 'most dangerous man in the world'