Lack of Pentagon support threatens Bush's Iraq plans

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20031013/ts_usatoday/11898682&cid=676&ncid=1473

The suicide attack on a Baghdad hotel Sunday, which killed six Iraqis, is the latest example of the growing violence and floundering reconstruction efforts that argue for President Bush's shake-up of his Iraq team. The Pentagon, which has been calling the shots, now will report to a group headed by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

The restructuring, announced last week, is aimed at putting the White House in more direct control of postwar efforts six months after the fall of Baghdad. It only can work, though, if the Pentagon recognizes the need for the change. And early signs aren't good. While leaders of Congress praise the reorganization as a major and appropriate shift, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed it as mere fine-tuning.

His reaction may be face-saving posturing. But the administration's long-term success in creating a democratic and prosperous Iraq depends on getting the Pentagon to focus on what it does best: security operations. It also requires the Defense Department to step back from what others do better, such as managing reconstruction, distributing aid and getting a political system running. So far the Pentagon hasn't.

Defense officials say other agencies are handling chores that require more than military know-how. Yet turf wars have smothered good ideas.

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[lanlady]

1. what are the folks at USA Today smoking?

This assumes Bush, Powell and Condi have had some brilliant plan lying around but that mean old Rummie is getting in the way. Nonsense! No one in the administration has a clue, much less a plan.

[Democat]

2. We just need more White House involvement?

USA Today says Bush is a great leader, get it?

They believe it because he told them and whatever he tells them, they believe.

Bush owns the media.

[Paschall]

6. And since when are "security operations"...

...what the Pentagon "does best?"

Unless I've been misreading everything about the need for foreign troops, it seems the US has been crying for help because our army is not prepared for security and police operations, but for combat.

[Lorien]

14. Nor do they give a shit about

"democracy" in Iraq-no, they simply want the people to sit there quietly while we plunder their oil. Once the wells are dry, we're outta there!

[hang a left]

3. Looks like they are gonna blame Rummie for the attacks over the

weekend. I guess Rice "inherited" this insurgency. Kinda like Bush inherited the recession from Bill.

[rock]

4. They do too have a plan

It's called 'lunch'.

[JNelson6563]

5. Do you think it could be

a faction of Rummy-loyalists who will drag feet under Condi's "leadership"?

Rummy's been publicly slighted. Anyone who's thrown their lot in with him will be less likely to be cooperative.

Reminds me of the Third Crusade....like it was yesterday.....;-)

Julie

[Noordam]

7. And in 6 more months Condi will be replaced by

Colon and his State Dept. ppl.

[AnnabelLee]

22. If Pat Robertson

hasn't had some of his wingnut followers blow them all up.;-)

[tabasco]

8. Somebody needs to clue me in.

What exactly are Condoleeza Rice's qualifications for managing military operations? She has not done her job since Day One; has shown a complete lack of understanding of military operations (see comments by Wes Clark); yet is given responsibility to oversee an ongoing combat mission and occupation. This is only going to get worse with someone, even more incompetent than Rumsfeld, with more control.

[alcuno]

9. She's brilliant.

That's what they say about her. Brilliant at what I don't know.

[Zero Gravitas]

16. NFL Commissioner

Ahe'd make a good NLF Comissioner (an ambition of hers apparently) but she is out of her depth in her current job (as are all the Bush* cronies it appears).

[maggrwaggr]

21. brilliantly incompetent

she never even read the report on terrorism and al quaeda left behind by the Clinton administration.

She should have been fired long ago. She is one of the big reasons thousands of people died on 9/11

[reprobate]

13. Well, she had an oil tanker named after her. Isn't that enough?

[wabeewoman]

20. She's the best liar in the administration

-even beats Cheney! She can lie to your face, make totally false statements without blinking an eye, tell lies that fly in the face of all reason and repeat lies that have been exposed. Rumsfeld, while no slouch in the lying department, is cranky and given to bouts of truth telling. No such problem with Rice. I have seen NO evidence that she will improve anything but she will go forth and multiply lies for all who will listen.

[fizzana]

10. There was an article on MSNBC a couple of weeks ago

about how the post war in Iraq was blown. One of the major problems is that the people now running the CPA in Iraq were chosen based on political ideology rather than ability. In fact 19 out of 20 State Department people were rejected by Rummy as being too pro-Arab.

Changing responsibility at the top will do nothing if the setup in Iraq remains the same. From the little bits I have read, the people running the CPA in Iraq are sadly ill equipped for the job.

[young_at_heart]

11. Political ideology is more important to them than anything

I believe that is always #1 in ALL things. Nothing else matters!

[The White Rose]

12. Hey, maybe George and Condi are doing the nasty!!!

Wouldn't THAT be delicious :9 Oh, the irony...

[diamond14]

18. WP: "Bush is personally close to Rice."

Washington has noticed....
From Sunday's Washington Post.....

"Bush is personally close to Rice. She spends countless hours at his side -- in the White House, at Camp David and on his ranch in Crawford, Tex. -- forging a bond that has transcended the statutory position of national security adviser."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13695-2003Oct11.html


and of course, there was the cruel poem that bush* left in his wife's bed (while Laura was in Paris) calling his wife a "lump in the bed"...such cruelty is typical of American guys having affairs...
(BTW, Condi spent LOTS of time with bush* while Laura was gone to Europe)....

[NickB79]

23. Quite possible

After all, lots of white slave-owners slept with their black slaves. Why should Bush be any different?

[reprobate]

15. We are looking at the start of a civil war in this administration.

The heart of the administration has always been Cheney, Wolfowitz, Pearl, and Rumsfeld.

Taking the planning out of defense and putting it in the white house under Kindasleezy Rice means that the PNAC influence has wained with Rove, and he's trying to put a 'kinder, gentler' face on the war-insurgency.

I don't believe that PNAC will allow this to stand. They have too much invested in the situation and they're too close to their goals (they believe), so we can expect to see infighting between them and state and the white house.

Now add to this the fact that the CIA is infuriated with both PNAC and the white house, and things start to get interesting....I believe that something will happen, instigated by cia, to absolutely remove any credibility from all of them. Come spring we may see more calls for impeachment and mass resignations.

Just sit back and smile. This could be fun to watch.

[Unknown Known]

17. I agree with your analysis.

This is the quiet before the storm. Things are not going well in Wonderland.

PNAC will not let this go, but neither will the CIA. I remember reading one CIA guy saying that finding who the leaker(s) is has become like the "Holy Grail" now. Shiite!

Just because we're not hearing anything, doesn't mean nothing is happening.

[diamond14]

19. Wonderland! Where bush* refuses to read the newspapers...

insisting that Condi Rice brief him (privately?) on all the good news of the day, everyday....

-----------------------------------------------------
-snips-

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush recently gave an hour-long exclusive interview to Fox TV anchor Brit Hume, who tossed him a series of softball questions.

Among them, Bush was asked how he gets his news.

Answer: He relies on briefings by chief of staff Andrew Card and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Bush said. "I rarely read the stories," he said.

Instead, the president continued, he gets "briefed by people who have probably read the news themselves."

Rice, on the other hand, is getting the news "directly from the participants on the world stage."

Bush said this had long been his practice.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/helenthomas/2547076/detail.html