Six retired generals in the United States have called for the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to step down.
In a radio interview, Major General John Riggs, a former division commander, said it was time for Mr Rumsfeld to go because he fostered an atmosphere of 'arrogance' among the Pentagon's top civilian leadership.
Major General Charles Swannack, who led the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, questioned whether Mr Rumsfeld was the right person to lead the fight against the growing threat of terrorism.
Mr Swannack said the war in Iraq had been full of absolute failures.
Although another retired general, who also served in Iraq, has maintained Mr Rumsfeld was an effective Defence Secretary, albeit one who could be tough to deal with.
The White House has made it clear that Mr Rumsfeld retains its full support.
Mr Rumsfeld, who has had prickly relations with the military and Congress almost from the start of his first term in 2001, has survived prior calls for his resignation.
He offered his resignation to US President George W Bush after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in 2004, but the Mr Bush turned it down.
The calls by the retired generals represent a difficult political challenge for the administration in the middle of a war and also a blow to public-military relations.
Recent opinion polls have shown eroding public support for the three-year-old war in which an estimated 2,360 US troops have died.
