3 Generals Spurn the Position of War "Czar"
Interesting article by Tom Ricks and Peter Baker.
Quote:
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, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.
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.
"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 that Vice President 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.
Crikey is Right But Inevitable
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jcustis
Ah yes, and they are thoroughly couched in theory as opposed to having developed the expertise at recognizing the patterns, currents, and even the occasional eddy or two. Crikeys!
And they exist in every administration. For me in Zaire and Rwanda they were the Clintonistas. That group was somewhat older but not necessarily so.
You can't change this pattern, guys. It is part and parcel of what makes our world so different from theirs. We treasure knowledge tempered with experience. They treasure knowledge unfettered with reality but constructed through a prism of political loyalty. By that I mean knowledge is only valuable if it can be bent to the message of the day.
To O'Sullivan's credit, she at least talked to folks in the State Department and that nearly got her canned early on. Have no doubt, she will be back.
Best
Tom
NSC structure & interagency planning
Jimbo
Perhaps, some reorganization of the NSC staff would help do this if the NS advisor will not play it as Tom suggests he/she should. Nevertheless, the success of the staffer in riding herd will depend on the President's willingness to come down hard on a Cabinet officer who is not treating the staffer as speaking for the Pres.
On interagency planning: The first such plan was for Haiti in 1994. Read Walt Kretchik's superb chapter on planning in our CSI book, Invasion, Intervention, "Intervasion." PDD 56 issued by the Clinton Administration sought to address the problem and was one of the few PDDs continued by the Bush Admin. It never went far but NDU's ITEA program contin ues to work the issue and its head, Erik Kjonnerud might have some helpful thoughts.
Cheers
John