GEORGE BUSH launched a desperate effort yesterday to shore up the position of Donald Rumsfeld by issuing a written statement from Camp David saying that the Defence Secretary’s leadership was “exactly what is needed at this critical period”.

Mr Rumsfeld is facing unprecedented attacks from the military establishment, with a clutch of ex-generals lining up to demand that he is ousted from the Pentagon for mishandling the war in Iraq.

Yesterday, the Defence Secretary sought to dismiss the criticism as coming from just “two or three or four retired people”.

“Out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the Secretary of Defence of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round.”

By the time his comments were broadcast, the number of ex-generals demanding his head had risen from four to six. Major-General John Riggs said that Mr Rumsfeld should go because he had fostered an “atmosphere of arrogance”.

He was joined by MajorGeneral Charles Swannack, a former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, who said: “We need to continue to fight the global war on terror and keep it off our shores, but I do not believe Secretary Rumsfeld is the right person to fight that war based on his absolute failures in managing the war against Saddam in Iraq.”

Earlier, calls for Mr Rumsfeld’s resignation had come from General Anthony Zinni, Lieutenant-General Gregory Newbold and Major-General Paul Eaton, as well as Major-General John Batiste, who yesterday denied that the clamour for Mr Rumsfeld’s removal was concerted. “I think it is absolutely coincidental. There is no political agenda at all,” he said.

The former generals blamed Mr Rumsfeld for committing too few US troops in Iraq and for underestimating the strength of the insurgency. They have also bridled at his high-handed and authoritarian management style.

But Mr Bush yesterday took the unusual step of interrupting his Easter break to issue a written statement in an apparent attempt to stop the “sack Rumsfeld” campaign gathering further momentum.

There has been speculation that after the departure of Andrew Card as the White House chief of staff, Mr Bush was planning a shake-up of his team to reinvigorate his beleaguered presidency.

It was notable, for instance, that yesterday’s statement did not endorse John Snow, the US Treasury secretary, who is widely regarded as being in the political “departure lounge”.

But Mr Bush knows that losing Mr Rumsfeld now would leave his own position even more exposed over Iraq. In his statement, the President repeatedly referred to the Defence Secretary as “Don”, to indicate that Mr Rumsfeld had remained a close confidant during what he described as the “many difficult missions” they had undertaken together.

“I have seen first-hand how Don relies upon our military commanders in the field and at the Pentagon to make decisions about how best to complete these missions,” he said. “He has my full support and deepest appreciation.”

He said that he had spoken to Mr Rumsfeld earlier in the day about military operations: “I reiterated my strong support for his leadership during this historic and challenging time for our nation.”

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