Telegraph | News | Top Pentagon policymaker to step down

Telegraph | News | Top Pentagon policymaker to step down: "Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy who helped plan the American invasion of Iraq, has decided to resign after a four-year term, Pentagon officials have said.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, said Mr Feith told him after the November elections that he would step down before summer 2006 to return to private life.

Mr Rumsfeld said: 'I'm hopeful he'll stay until we find an appropriate successor. We have not started looking for one.'

Mr Feith, a former lawyer, has been an influential adviser to Mr Rumsfeld and played a part in America's strategy of preemptive war and its withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

Retired general Tommy Franks, who commanded the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, memorably referred to Mr Feith in a pep talk with military planners as 'the dumbest ******* guy on the planet.'"