Sully, you are exactly right!! This War Czar stuff is nothing but a nationwide search to provide a scapegoat for the 08 elections. Don't blame me blame the War Czar. Lets try the constitutional path for while, what a concept!!
Heck I need something to do this summer on my Holiday I'll take the Job as War Czar...
I have a very short list of people I'll be hiring to help me out. Tom, Marct, you know the crew... Anybody working for me will have poll dancers as their secretary.
I figure in three months I'll get as much done as anybody else.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Damn! Count me in - after June 9th, Ive got a European concert tour - but after that, I'm on Selil!Originally Posted by selil
Marc
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
Selil, are they offering pole dancers now?
Damn. I turned down the offer before dinner and they only offered me two secretaries. I asked if I could pick from this thread and they told me no. Damned Wolfowitz scandal.
"American Czar" or "Czar Search"
I want to see Marc with the "Sinjia" doo (maybe I should break out the Adobe photo shop for his "Google Talk" photo- Marc, you guys get American Idol up there? Its probably one of the top two most important things going on in the States right now - your avreage citizen may not know who GEN Petreus is, but by God they know Sinjia
.
Hi Rob,
Long time no chatI want to see Marc with the "Sinjia" doo (maybe I should break out the Adobe photo shop for his "Google Talk" photo. On the "doo" - I don't do Mohawks! Puhleses! Something with a touch more class! Even a Gepid double braid greased with butter has more style than that! Besides that, I'm a 2nd Bass.
On the popular culture point, how about a "Sanjaya Goes To War" option? Given his obvious talents, wouldn't it be so much better to get him out in the field? Oh, wait, sorry... I forgot, torture's not allowed by the Geneva Convention.
Marc
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
Rasta Mon
Marc
I had you pegged more as a "rasta mon" with a Canadian "oot and aboot" accent.
I have to admit the idea of a "Czar Search" --especially on a commercial basis--takes PMCs to even greater heights. One has to wonder if "winning" Czar search is indeed a victory.
Tom
Last edited by Tom Odom; 04-15-2007 at 03:31 PM.
Tom,
LOLOL Well, I 'spose I could do the accent
You know, I think that they are going about the search in completely the wrong manner. In order to capture America's popular opinion, what they really need to do is run a reality TV show!!!!! - "So you want to be a War Czar!" If nothing else, the advertising revenue might make up for what the Dems are threatening to claw back
Marc
Last edited by Tom Odom; 04-15-2007 at 03:31 PM.
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
Marine General Jack Sheehan on why he turned down the job.
Based on my experience, I knew that a White House position of this nature would require interagency acceptance. Cabinet-level agencies, organizations and their leadership must buy in to the position's roles and responsibilities. Most important, Cabinet-level personalities must develop and accept a clear definition of the strategic approach to policy.
What I found in discussions with current and former members of this administration is that there is no agreed-upon strategic view of the Iraq problem or the region. In my view, there are essentially three strategies in play simultaneously.
The first I call "the Woody Hayes basic ground attack," which is basically gaining one yard -- or one city block -- at a time. Given unconstrained time and resources, one could control the outcome in Iraq and provide the necessary security to move on to the next stage of development.
The second strategy starts with security but adds benchmarks for both the U.S. and Iraqi participants and applies time constraints that should guide them toward a desired outcome. The value of this strategy is that everyone knows the quantifiable and measurable objectives that fit within an overall strategic framework.
The third strategy takes a larger view of the region and the desired end state. Simply put, where does Iraq fit in a larger regional context? The United States has and will continue to have strategic interests in the greater Middle East well after the Iraq crisis is resolved and, as a matter of national interest, will maintain forces in the region in some form. The Iraq invasion has created a real and existential crisis for nearly all Middle Eastern countries and created divisions among our traditional European allies, making cooperation on other issues more difficult. In the case of Iran, we have allowed Tehran to develop more policy options and tools than it had a few years ago. Iran is an ideological and destabilizing threat to its neighbors and, more important, to U.S. interests.
Of the three strategies in play, the third is the most important but, unfortunately, is the least developed and articulated by this administration.
...
There has to be linkage between short-term operations and strategic objectives that represent long-term U.S. and regional interests, such as assured access to energy resources and support for stable, Western-oriented countries. These interests will require a serious dialogue and partnership with countries that live in an increasingly dangerous neighborhood. We cannot "shorthand" this issue with concepts such as the "democratization of the region" or the constant refrain by a small but powerful group that we are going to "win," even as "victory" is not defined or is frequently redefined ...
Czar Search Still Underway
So apparently--at least according to this--this is actually the second (somewhat delayed)season for "Czar Search."
Washington Examiner
April 19, 2007
White House Having Trouble Creating Top War Post
By Rowan Scarborough, National Security Correspondent
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration once again is trying to create a super-policy post inside the White House to coordinate a war, but it is having about as much success as it did in 2001 when a similar job never got filled.
In the first instance, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld saw the plan for a new senior staffer as a potential rival and snuffed it out.
This time, Rumsfeld’s successor, Robert Gates, endorses the idea of National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. He wants to find someone with the oomph of a retired four-star officer who would strong-arm the federal bureaucracy to meet the demands of commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I think they need to stop looking for retired generals who know better than to take the position.
Is this an attempt to formalize a role similar to the one that Col. House filled for Wilson? I guess that Marshall provided the same service for Roosevelt. Otherwise I would think that between them the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the President's Cabinet could give enough background and options for the President to fulfill his duties as Commander and Chief.
It is right to learn, even from one's enemies
Ovid
Well American Idol is headed toward its seasonal conclusiion so we could get a panel of experienced judges right there. Simon would most certainly ask the hard questions...
Mondor,
The cynic in me says, no, it is not a "COL House" or a "Marshall" role being sought. It is a buffer or barrier to deflect heat from getting unbearable.
Tom
The whole thing's become a farce now, anyway. How exactly is the 16th choice going to get respect from the bureaucracy now?
Actually, if the goal was to find a heat shield or fall guy, the ploy has worked by getting no takers. Now the rejoinder to the critics can be, "Don't blame us for this failure. We asked for help from the experts. None of the folks who could have helped us steer our way through this maelstrom answered the call of their country in its hour of need."
good point!
Generals Dodge a Bullet on Iraq War
23 April Washington Times commentary - Generals Dodge a Bullet on Iraq War by Stefan Halper.
That at least three four-star generals, according to The Washington Post, have rejected a White House offer to assume the new post of "war czar," to coordinate the Iraq and Afghan wars, is an extraordinary and unprecedented vote of no confidence. One of them, Marine Gen. Jack Sheehan, summarized, "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," adding that Vice President Dick Cheney's hawkish views still dominated over the pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq.
Gen. Sheehan's remark underscores the debilitating dispute between "hawks," who were once convinced that democracy was achievable in Iraq and would now settle for stability, and "realists" who believe the expanding civil war between Sunni and Shia insurgents demands a decisive change of course. The gulf in perceptions of the challenge before us could not be greater, nor could it portend greater consequences for American credibility and security.
The gap originated with the neoconservative belief that "regime-change" meant the United States could eliminate Saddam's mass weapons and replace his strong-man government with some form of democracy. Conditions on the ground have tempered this early idealism: Now the view is if democracy cannot be achieved, simple stability will do. Today, two elections, a constitution, and four declared strategies later, we see that having provided the structure for democratic governance, we can not establish the security needed for it to function -- a point underscored by the bombing of the Iraqi legislature inside the "Green Zone" when 30 were wounded and three killed earlier this month...
Quiet Bush Aide Seeks Iraq Czar, Creating a Stir
30 April NY Times - Quiet Bush Aide Seeks Iraq Czar, Creating a Stir by Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
Stephen J. Hadley would be the first to tell you he does not have star power. But Mr. Hadley, the bespectacled, gray-haired, exceedingly precise Washington lawyer who is President Bush’s national security adviser, is in the market for someone who does — with the hope of saving Iraq.
Mr. Hadley is interviewing candidates, including military generals, for a new high-profile job that people in Washington are calling the war czar. The official (Mr. Hadley, ever cautious, prefers “implementation and execution manager”) would brief Mr. Bush every morning on Iraq and Afghanistan, then prod cabinet secretaries into carrying out White House orders.
It is the kind of task — a little bit of internal diplomacy and a lot of head-knocking, fortified by direct access to the president — that would ordinarily fall to Mr. Hadley himself. After all, he oversaw the review that produced Mr. Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq. But his responsibilities encompass issues around the globe, and he has concluded that he needs someone “up close to the president” to work “full time, 24/7” to put the policy into effect. He hopes to fill the job soon...
I know some of you guys are very skeptical about the usefulness of this position, but I really wish they'd find someone to fill it soon. While I can't blame folks for not wanting the job, we will not be successful in Iraq without it.
Brian
Last edited by BScully; 04-30-2007 at 02:42 PM.
And the winner is ... LTGEN Douglas Lute, former operations officer for CENTCOM under retired GEN Abizaid.
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