Rumsfeld, unfazed by critics, says he won’t quit

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, coming under renewed fire for his management of the Iraq war, said Sunday he is not considering resigning and said the president had called him personally in recent days to express his continued support.

Speaking to reporters en route to Nicaragua for a meeting of defense ministers, Rumsfeld said he was not surprised by reports in a new book that White House staff had encouraged President Bush to fire him after the 2004 election.

“It’s the task of the chief of staff of the White House – and having been one, I know that – to raise all kinds of questions with the president and think through different ways of approaching things,” Rumsfeld said. “So it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if that subject had come up.”

Asked by reporters if he had recently considered resigning, Rumsfeld said, “No.”

In the new book “State of Denial,” Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward writes that former White House chief of staff Andrew Card twice sought to persuade Bush to fire Rumsfeld.

Card on Friday did not dispute the claims but said it was his job to discuss a range of possible replacements, including his own.