He's still there...

...but there's less reason than ever.

The New York Times opines...

That was a service to the public, but the civilian panel did an enormous disservice by not connecting those dots and walking away from any real exercise in accountability. Instead, Pentagon officials who are never named get muted criticism for issuing confusing memos and not monitoring things closely enough. This is all cast as "leadership failure" - the 21st-century version of the Nixonian "mistakes were made" evasion - that does not require even the mildest reprimand for Mr. Rumsfeld, who should have resigned over this disaster months ago. Direct condemnation is reserved for the men and women in the field, from the military police officers sent to guard prisoners without training to the three-star general in Iraq.

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Still, the civilian panel said the politicians had only indirect responsibility for this mess, and Mr. Schlesinger made the absurd argument that firing Mr. Rumsfeld would aid "the enemy." That is reminiscent of the comment Mr. Bush made last spring when he visited the Pentagon to view images of American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners and then announced that Mr. Rumsfeld was doing a "superb job." It may not be all that surprising from a commission appointed by the secretary of defense and run by two former secretaries of defense (Mr. Schlesinger and Harold Brown). But it seems less a rational assessment than an attempt to cut off any further criticism of the men at the top.

And John Kerry's right (again)...

"It's not just the little person at the bottom who ought to pay the price ... the buck doesn't stop at the Pentagon," he said.

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He renewed his call for Rumsfeld to resign "for failure to do what he should have done" and said Bush should conduct his own investigation into the decision making that led to the penal abuses. Kerry called in May for Rumsfeld's resignation over the abuse scandal and said at the time he had urged Rumsfeld to quit months earlier due to miscalculations on Iraq.

The petition is still there. If you haven't signed it yet, do it now.