one of my pet peeves.

It seems to me that there is no reason why we can't achieve unity of command over USG activities in a COIN - or other conflict - environment. We do it regularly in nearly every American Embassy in the world where the Ambassador is in charge of ALL USG activities (with the exception of major ongoing military opns). We have also achieved it in a military operations environment - most recently (I think) in Operations Desert Storm prior to the arrival of Amb Ghnem in Kuwait and in Southern Iraq during the brief period of occupation and in Operation Provide Comfort in Northern Iraq where LTG Jay Garner commanded all USG elements - the Ambassador to Turkey suported Garner.

But there seems to be an incredible hesitancy on the part of USG political leaders to do the obvious and designate someone as being in charge. In Iraq, is it Amb Crocker of GEN Odierno? During the CPA was it Bremer or Sanchez or someone else, although they all reprted to SECDEF Rumsfeld? How hard iwould it be for the President (or the SECDEF in CPA like case) to point his finger and say, "You are in charge." And point it to the other guy and say, "You work for him."? Not hard for me to imagine but it seems to be impossible for the elected and appointed civilian leadership of the USG.

Cheers

JohnT