The father of two US soldiers fighting in Iraq said Friday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld must resign, accusing him of betraying the US troops and the nation.

"I'm a patriotic American with three sons in the military, two serving in Iraq," said the father, Larry Syverson, from Richmond, Virginia, on a whole-page advertisement on the New York Times. "I'm proud of their service. But I'm angry with those who have led us into what can only be called a quagmire."

Syverson said Rumsfeld, the chief architect of the war with Iraq, "has left our troops poorly equipped and vulnerable in an increasingly hostile environment" by bad planning.

"We now know that the President and those who serve him misled us about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam's supposed nuclear program, about a link between Saddam and September 11," the advertisement said.

"I'm in awe at the courage of my sons and the honorable service they give. But the leaders they serve have not acted honorably. They have failed my sons. They have failed all of us," Syverson said.

"At the very least, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld must go."

The advertisement came at a time when Rumsfeld is under increasing criticism for the Pentagon's plan for postwar Iraq as the costs and casualties of the occupation are on the rise.

Democratic Representative David Obey of Wisconsin has openly called for the resignation of Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, saying their miscalculations had cost American lives in Iraq and damaged the nation's fiscal health.

But even Rumsfeld's critics acknowledged that he is in no danger of losing his job or the confidence of President George W. Bush. White House has said the defense secretary was doing a "terrific job."

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2003)