By now everyone has heard about Bush’s move to create a “War Czar” to oversee operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The War Czar would have “authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies,” prompting many wags to point out that we already have such a position — the President of the United States.
But something has been overlooked in all the dark chortling: Creating the post of “War Czar” is of a piece with the rest of Bush’s adult life. Consider that Bush made a royal hash of everything he laid his hand to before he became president. And each and every time, somebody turned up to bail his butt out. Whether it was his daddy’s friends, or people who wanted to be a friend of his daddy, someone was always there to pull little George’s nuts out of the fire.
But now he’s president and he spurned the help of his daddy’s friends. Yet, he still wants to be rescued from his own catastrophic mishandling of both Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus the search for some white knight to ride in and save the day. Or take the blame.
The whole history of this misbegotten war has been like the Russian legends about troikas fleeing from a wolf pack and trying to escape by throwing the children out to be eaten so as to slow down the pack. Rumsfeld stayed aboard for a while by doing a handoff to L. Paul Bremer II. And then when people still blamed him he cast himself as just a bluff, innocent fellow carrying out the instructions of the real military experts, the generals he had house-trained to eat his crap. (The ones who couldn't develop a taste for crap were ignored or driven out of the service.) Then it was Rummy's turn to become a wolf snack.Then Cheney, the real War Czar, and Bush, his vizier, set up the Iraqis themselves as the fall guys. Just in case that didn't work, they ran in that poor bastard Petraeus, who is going to retire in disgrace as the intellectual who lost the war. And on and on it goes. They haven't found a war czar yet, I note, probably because no one with a three-digit IQ would take the job. That leaves Bernie Kerik. Don't touch that dial!
Posted by: Duff Orben on April 23, 2007 6:40 PMYes this war really gets me down for its bloody endless and totally un-called for . How many times did your parents tell you "Two wrongs dont ever make a right" save a bunch of lives and just go home . The average american has been led down the garden path .
Posted by: the big raven on April 24, 2007 5:28 PM