WASHINGTON, April 18: Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should have resigned when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke, but stepping down now under pressure from the military would set ‘an ugly precedent’, The Washington Post said on Tuesday.

“In our view Mr Rumsfeld’s failures should have led to his departure long ago. But he should not be driven out by a revolt of generals, retired or not,” said the daily.

President Bush ‘would have been wise to accept Mr Rumsfeld’s resignation when he offered it two years ago,” the Post editorial said. Mr Bush’s ‘stubborn support’ for Mr Rumsfeld, it added, ‘has compounded US troubles in Iraq ... and deepened the political hole in which the president is mired.” —AFP