Rumsfeld Will Not Participate In U.S. Presidential Campaign

WASHINGTON, July 21 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Wednesday he will not participate in the campaign for the 2004 US presidential election or attend the Republican Party's New York convention.
"The president, when I took the job, asked me and Secretary Powell to stay out of politics. He has. I have. We intend to. Neither one of us are planning to go to the convention," Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon press conference.
Rumsfeld said neither he nor Secretary of State Colin Powell will attend the Republican Party's August 30-September 2 convention that will seek to return US President George W. Bush to the White House for a second term following the November 2 election.
"And that will be the policy of the president. And therefore it's our policy, my policy and the policy of this department," Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld, viewed by analysts as one of the key neoconservatives behind the Iraq war, said he would not be campaigning, because "we're in a war."
"We've got to keep our eye on the ball, and the ball is trying to protect the American people from additional terrorist attacks and try to track down the folks that are planning threats against our country, here and abroad," the defense secretary added.