Rumsfeld leaves office

US DEFENCE Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spent his last day in office yesterday.

His successor, Robert Gates, will be sworn in today.

Mr Rumsfeld, pictured right, announced his resignation after the Republican Party suffered heavy losses in last month’s mid-term elections.

On Friday, he appealed to Americans not to lose heart in a long and difficult fight against extremism.

At a ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday, Mr Rumsfeld was hailed as a great defence secretary who rose to the challenge of the September 11 attacks.

In his farewell speech, he said the threat had not passed and the US had to invest more in defending itself.

“Our task is to make the right decisions today so that future generations will not have to make much harder decisions tomorrow,” he said.