President Bush wants to hire a War Czar to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The problem: Nobody wants the job.
They realize they would have to put up with Vice President Dick Cheney and his allies still pushing their disastrously irrational policies.
Coming from WaPo:
WASHINGTON--The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies, but has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.
This by the way is the LEAD story in Wednesday's Washington Post.
White House policy is essentially paralyzed by the hardliners.
Linkage: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Obviously, a BIG part of this ploy is to link Iraq with the "War On Terror."
Nobody wants to lose that "war." So draw the line in the political sand. And when things go wrong, blame it on the "czar." What is Brownie doing these days anyway? He knows something about Arabia ... horses I think.
More from WaPo:
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.
Retired Marine Gen. Jack Sheehan says it well:
``The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going,'' said retired Marine Gen. John J. ``Jack'' Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes Vice President Dick Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. ``So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, `No thanks,''' he said.
I love that quote: "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going." That is rather fundamental, indeed.
So there we are.
The Bush administration can't find any competent people to take the job because they would be given ulcers by Cheney and Co.
More from Sheehan:
In an interview Tuesday, Sheehan said Hadley contacted him and they discussed the job for two weeks, but he was dubious from the start. ``I've never agreed on the basis of the war and I'm still skeptical,'' Sheehan said. ``Not only did we not plan properly for the war, we grossly underestimated the effect of sanctions and Saddam Hussein on the Iraqi people.''
In the course of the discussions, Sheehan said he called around to get a better feel for the administration landscape.
``There's the residue of the Cheney view--`We're going to win, al-Qaida's there'--that justifies anything we did,'' he said. ``And then there's the pragmatist view-- how the hell do we get out of Dodge and survive? Unfortunately, the people with the former view are still in the positions of most influence.'' Sheehan said he wrote a note March 27 declining interest.
I bet Megan O'Sullivan had a fit. Rove probably did too. As well as Steve Hadley.
Message to the White House: Until you are ready to deal with REALITY in Iraq, don't expect US to work for you.
Some administration critics said the ideas miss the point. ``An individual can't fix a failed policy,'' said Carlos Pascual, former State Department coordinator of Iraq reconstruction who is now a vice president at the Brookings Institution. ``So the key thing is to figure out where the policy is wrong.''
Rearranging chairs on the Titanic won't cut it.
Another big story at http://www.nytimes.com
WASHINGTON, April 10 — A federal panel responsible for conducting election research played down the findings of experts who concluded last year that there was little voter fraud around the nation, according to a review of the original report obtained by The New York Times.
Instead, the panel, the Election Assistance Commission, issued a report that said the pervasiveness of fraud was open to debate.
The revised version echoes complaints made by Republican politicians, who have long suggested that voter fraud is widespread and justifies the voter identification laws that have been passed in at least two dozen states.
Don't let facts get in the way of your conclusions.