Irked Prez Moves to Redo Iraq Team (Interesting Leaks: NY Daily News)

[VolcanoJen]

This story further explores the rift between the Pentagon, State and National Security at the White House. David Gergen was just on CNN, talking about how important this story is. It's written by Thomas DeFrank, who Gergen said is one of Washington's best and most respected reporters, and he insists this story is going to get a lot of attention. He also says that this story will "rattle the cages" of the White House, and that they'll be very upset about it, as it opens up a "veil to a snakepit," in Gergen's words.

The article reports that Bush sources have complained to the author (DeFrank) about Rumsfeld and Powell, in particular:

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/125528p-112485c.html

Excerpt:

Much of Bush's disappointment is directed at Rumsfeld, who is widely seen within the administration to have been more adept at waging war than peace in Iraq.

"The President feels let down," one well-placed source told The News. "He feels as if Rumsfeld was unwilling to come and get help and thinks his inability to trust anyone other than his immediate subordinates created a serious, ongoing problem in both Afghanistan and Iraq."

<snip>

Powell has basically absented himself from this situation because he wanted Rumsfeld to fail - and believe me, the President's unhappy about that, too."

<snip>

Though Bush is aware that some of his senior advisers believe Rice has failed to control the warfare between Rumsfeld and Powell, there's no evidence Bush is upset with her. Rice has the closest personal relationship of any staffer with Bush - who has told friends for more than a year that he intends to appoint her the next secretary of state.

[Spazito]

1. I wonder which type of "leak" this one was...

the unauthorized one or the authorized one? This seems to be a "poor George, he is in the middle of something he didn't know." Another get out of jail free pass?

[VolcanoJen]

2. Powell should really bail NOW. What is he waiting for?

There's obviously a target on his head, as far as Chimpy McFlightSuit is concerned.

And I have my doubts that Rumsfeld would go quietly... I'd personally love to see some firings at the Senior Administration level, but if they occur, I don't think it would be good news for the Bush folks.

[Spazito]

6. I don't see them firing anyone unless it is REALLY bad...

because that would admit that they messed up. I agree re Powell, mind you, I think he should have gotten out LONG before this.

[ReadTomPaine]

25. Powell's got something up his sleeve.

Powell’s an unparalleled bureaucratic knife fighter, he’s known for it above all his other skills in the beltway. There’s a reason he hasn’t bailed, and we’ll see it before the election I’m sure. My guess is that he's going to be around after others are long gone. Of course, at least until a Democrat takes office after the '04 election.

[Voltaire99]

28. No sympathy for the Powell devil

After his carrying water for this immoral invasion and lying to the UN, who cares what Powell has up his sleeve?

He's a company man, always has been (see his dissembling Iran Contra testimony), and the sooner Democrats cease to be infatuated with him the better.

[ReadTomPaine]

29. Oh agreed completely. I just think he's got something up his sleeve.

Doesn't have to be anything but self serving, but he's not going to fall without a fight.

[papau]

15. I agree - NSC has no staff/can't run Iraq,and Pentagon is still in control

It is all pretend and Bull - but being treated like it was for real by our media.

Is the US Media stupid, lazy, or just "we are not right wing GOP controlled - we just act that way" - or all three.

[mediaman007]

35. Since the ship is sinking, this is just a shift to get the attention away

from the crappy work that they have done. Remember when they said that the "adults were in charge?"

[JohnyCanuck]

3. The President feels let down,"one well-placed source told The News

Jeeze Dubya, how do you think the rest of the world feels about being stuck with one sorry, pampered, uneducated, war mongering jackass as leader of the free world? Let down doesn't begin to describe it.

[theHandpuppet]

30. Amen!

You said it all in the perfect comeback!

[Tracer]

4. "Infighting Causes Iraq Support to Drop". Oh, right.

"Bush's creation of an interagency Iraq Stabilization Group headed by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice is designed in part to halt the intramural turf battles between the Pentagon and State - infighting Bush believes has contributed to flagging public support for the war and its aftermath."

Yes folks, it hasn't been the death and destruction in Iraq that has caused public support to "flag", it's been all that nasty infighting in Washington.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Leak my ass

This reads as more Repug political spin to 1) take the heat off of GeorgieBoy for the total fuck up of the pre-emptive strike, subsequent failure of the Iraq debacle and no WMD found, and 2) getting it out in the media that the BushCo 2004 team will be "new, better, different (and yellow)."

<<from the old ad line when Advil was introduced to the public--a panacea for our nation's ills, as well as for the current ailing administration and its falling poll numbers. The "yellow" part bears adding as it really is the BushCo color...yellow as in coward, yellow as in stinks like piss>>

[wryter2000]

17. I think you're right

I think this will play well for Whistle Ass. Identify two scapegoats, fire them, and get on with business as usual. I only think it'll help get rid of the Chimp if one of them decides to sing, and that won't happen.

Editted: clarity

[VolcanoJen]

18. He's not gonna fire anybody before November '04.

He's just gonna leak stuff and whine about it. Thing is, his lack of control over his senior advisors just proves he's got a problem with leadership. Who the hell is in charge over there? This is the kind of stuff that really starts to confuse and bother voters, the closer we get to an election.

He's supposed to be the "CEO President," and he sucks even at that. This may have been planted as a pro-White House spin, but if you read between the lines, there's nothing in these leaks that will help Chimpy. It just makes him look out of control.

The buck stops at Penn. Avenue. Dems must continue to remind the voters about that.

[Wickerman]

23. Yep, the CEO pres..

and he fucked up every company he was ever in charge of. Not that we should've had a clue....
:eyes:

and not that we actually had a say, what with stolen elections and all.

[berry]

26. IMO, the REAL reason to give all the responsibility to Condi

for the Iraq decisions was explained during the House Appropriations Cmte Markup session yesterday. I missed the original statement of this (maybe by Obey D-WI?), but caught Bill Young R-FL (chair of that cmte) trying to defuse it as an issue. OK, so here it is--the real reason:

>>>>Condi, as part of the Executive Branch staff, cannot be dragged before a Congressional committee to testify--about anything.<<<<

Defense and State are required, by law, to appear when called, and to justify their actions and spending. Bill Young argues that she wouldn't refuse to testify, and that anyway they can still get info by calling in people from Defense and its line to people in Iraq. BUT the Democrats (and maybe some Repugs--who knows) are worried about this. They see it as one more power grab by the Exec. Branch. And one more way for BushCo* to hide facts from Congress and the people.

So any article or pundit (I'm disappointed in Gergen) who talks about this "dissension" in the ranks without explaining the above point is, IMO, helping to confuse the issue and help BushCo* in their goals. This sure sounds like a WH leak to give Bush* some distance from policies that are being criticized, but given Bush*'s "loyalty" to his insiders, I wouldn't be surprised if this is all fake, and that they felt they needed this sideshow to distract the press from what's really happening. And everyone will go right along with what they're doing--and on paper Condi is in charge and TOTALLY unaccountable to anyone but Bush* within the system of government. Clever, eh?

[NoKingGeorge]

27. Cheney is reorganizing the team. bUsh is an idiot.

bUsh could not get his head around this on his best day. Cheney and maybe Wolfy are behind this.
The game I think is that Cheney wants Wolfowitz in Rummys' spot,
Colin may resign and Rummy will move there. Condi will get the VP spot and Cheney will retire back to the shadows.

[diplomats]

7. If I'm not mistaken, I think DeFrank is a crony of the Bushes

Hence the story angle blaming everything on Bush's advisers.

[VolcanoJen]

8. I think you're right about DeFrank...

... and it's fascinating for me to watch the White House implode on this issue.

When Bush was running, his team eagerly deflected attacks on his idiocy by insisting he'd surround himself with good, qualified people. Remember, they ran their campaign on the concept of "presidency by committee," a "CEO presidency," as it were.

These leaks are planted to help Chimpy, but in the end they really just undermine his top advisors and plant further doubt into the minds of American voters about Bush's ability to lead.

If the Chimp Administration is planning to throw out the baby with the bathwater, it only hurts them in the end. Is their new campaign strategy going to be, "HEY! No worries, 'cause if you elect us for four more years, we're going to fire everybody and start over." We Dems should be all over this. His advisors stuck us with this quagmire in Iraq, and now he wants to get rid of them? It's a little late... and it shows that they're madly spinning and spinning and spinning on Pennsylvania Avenue. The buck stops there, and since Bush won't point that out, then I think our candidates should.

That's the way I read it, anyway, and it will be interesting to see what kind of leaks are forthcoming from the Pentagon and the State Department, in their defense.

[diplomats]

16. I agree

Even assigning blame to others doesn't reflect well on Bush.

[DebbieCDC]

9. Daily News Article

Look at the picture accompanying the Daily News article on their web site of Dumbya with Kathleen Gregg....looks like she's aiming to find out if the flight suit photo was the real thing or not. Excuse me while I :puke:

[Catherine Vincent]

14. LOL! Is she trying to copy a feel?

[hang a left]

19. I don't know, but, bush* doesn't look turned on, I knew he was in the

closet.

[Gunit_Sangh]

10. re: Feels let down

Let's not forget the families of the 320+ soldiers who lost their lives or the soldiers who lost an arm or leg or were seriously injured. They too must feel "let down"

How *unfortunate* (in rumsfeld's words) eh?

[VolcanoJen]

11. Yet, Coulter and her kind insist Iraq is going "magnificently."

And Chimpy just yesterday said this to New Hampshire crowds:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3160-2003Oct9.html

President Bush told Americans today that the situation in Iraq is "a lot better than you probably think," as he sought to rally the flagging support for the U.S. occupation.

In twin speeches here in New Hampshire, the president kicked off an effort to revive determination to remain in Iraq, saying "Americans are not the running kind."

[lanlady]

13. oh, well, as Rummie would say--

--war is so untidy.

[rocktivity]

12. Not the "Bush, the babe in the woods" routine again!

"All this does is validate it's time for new blood in a new administration if we're reelected," one official said. "There will be a changeover at Defense and a changeover at State."

Once again, he's the innocent victim of scheming subordinates upon whose expertise he is completely dependent. And once again, it's everyone's fault but his. Well, fine--while he's taking care of changing over Defense and State, we'll take care of the changeover in the Oval office!




rocknation

[Zhade]

33. AFTER he's "elected" - sure, we believe he'll make changes then.

Please. We're not idiots. :eyes:

[young_at_heart]

20. Colin Powell was shown in Crawford with Bush

The morning after the election Bush and Colin stood at a corral (?) and Bush basically said that all the proof we Americans needed that he would pick the very best was standing next to him. I just loved it when Powell stated on The Charlie Rose Show recently, "I serve at the pleasure of my president"....gag!!!!

[VolcanoJen]

22. Flashback to August '02: Powell Plans Exit

Whatever happened to this story?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,346150,00.html

But he has privately grown more frustrated, and now, sources close to Powell tell Time, he has a firm plan for his exit: he will step down at the end of President Bush’s current term. “He will have done a yeoman’s job of contributing over the four years,” says a close aide. “But that’s enough.” The aide says Powell’s view of the matter is, “I did what my heart told me to do. I got (Bush) here and set him up. I did the best I could do.” If Bush wins a second term, only the imminence of a major diplomatic victory—in the Middle East, for example—could induce him to stay a short while longer. By the same token, the aide stresses that Powell is determined to serve out the entire term—even if the U.S. launches an invasion of Iraq, which Powell has fought to delay or derail.

[Nottingham]

21. They have failed! Bush admits it! Its Firing time!

Wonder if Rumsy will go quietly! :bounce:

The Oil must flow! He who disrupts the flow of Oil Controls the Universe.


That was a quote from Children of Dune! :bounce:

[grasswire]

24. more bushwah

The only option left to redeem George is to make him a victim. This is one such effort. We'll see more.

[0007]

31. I love it! I love it!

Now let's get rid of junior.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

32. IMHO, there are several things wrong with this scenario...

1) Folks in the Islamic culture do not believe that any woman should be in a position of leadership/power. My guess is that Rice will NOT be well-received by the Iraqis in her new "role".

2) I'm reading elsewhere that senior military commanders have about had it with Rummy because of his management style...abusive, abrasive, and indecisive. That also includes the rest of Rummy's NeoCon Pentagon staff. Additionally, he rarely takes the advice of any of the senior military commanders. I think this is why so many serving in Iraq are being allowed to speak publicly about how badly the war is going.

3) If the senior military commanders thought working with Rummy was bad, wait until they begin interfacing with Condi-liar Rice. Nothing pisses off a career military commander more than having to deal with someone that has never served in the military and lies on a routine basis. That could also describe Dubya and Rummy, couldn't it?

4) Speaking of career military officers, I don't expect Powell to take having to work FOR Condi-liar Rice any better than Rummy will. But Powell will work quietly behind the scenes to hasten her downfall. You can bet that he is in daily communication with the disgruntled senior military commanders noted above.

5) Meanwhile, the CIA continues its' campaign of "Death by a Thousand Cuts" against the senior people that outed Plame. They have developed excellent ties within the DOJ, the military, the civilian branches of the Pentagon, and the State Department. Also, don't forget Operation Mockingbird, the CIA's long-standing program to place operatives in the mainstream media. The WH's recent smokescreen that three senior staffers "did not reveal classified information" does not answer the question as to which of them outed Plame...those are two entirely DIFFERENT topics of discussion.

[Zhade]

34. Hang on, a slight disagreement...

Some Islamic societies feel this way. Not all.

Agreed on some other points - Powell may hasten Chevronleeza's downfall, but he is NOT an ally that anyone honest in the military should embrace. He's a traitor as much as the others.

Regarding MOCKINGBIRD, let's hope that there are CIA members willing to do the right thing and battle those inside who likely want to demolish the traitors in the White House only to occupy their place. Remember, the CIA has long been a bastion of terror, murder, and other illegal, unConstitutional crimes.

We must be careful who we place our trust in. Watching the infighting is entertaining, though.