War Czar???

[FinallyRetired]

Well folks, this Administration has hit the bottom. After misusing Powell, letting Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, and the other neocons run amuck, hiring Gates, saying it's all up to Petraeus, etc, etc, we now have ... a War Czar!!

So this General Lute is an active duty three star, reports directly to the President, works for the JCS so he also reports to CJCS who is supposed to be the chief military advisor to the President, belongs to the NSC along with SECDEF and CJCS, both of whom he reports to, and is top dog for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; I suppose in spite of what CENTCOM or Petraeus want to do.

I would love to see the Power Points for this one!! I really don't think this is even legal per USC Title 10.

Oh, and he was skeptical of the troop buildup besides. I guess he hasn't lost all his marbles yet, which I'm sure is a temporary situation.

White House Names General to Be ‘War Czar’

WASHINGTON, May 15 — The White House said this afternoon that President Bush ended his lengthy search for a “war czar” to carry out Iraq and Afghanistan policy by offering the job to an active duty three-star Army general who said in his interview that he had been skeptical of the troop buildup in Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/washington/15cnd-warczar.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 

[Mwsinron]

I think you people expect too much.

 

[FinallyRetired]

I think you people expect too much.

Mmm... ok? Not sure who "you" is or "too much" of what is expected. Can you elaborate?

Maybe I'm too close to the Beltway and find the sausage making too interesting. But many, maybe most, Americans today are asking why we got into Iraq, what are we doing there, and how can we get out? Those are the topics of some other threads. The answer to those questions rests with the (terrible to date) sausage making, and this war czar is the latest attempt.

Maybe it's too much to ask average Americans to understand and follow such things, but not too much to have them ask their government to be transparent. This war czar idea is the equivalent of firing Ken Lay at Enron, hiring a replacement, then having a subordinate reporting to that replacement figure out how to run Enron and report to the Board. All while Enron was tanking.

 

[Mwsinron]

You aren't supposed to understand just keep paying your taxes.

 

[eridanus]

No worries! The War Czar will do as well as the Drug Czar.

 

[Mwsinron]

No worries! The War Czar will do as well as the Drug Czar.

Or the education Czar...

 

[youbet]

Maybe I'm too close to the Beltway

Clearly.

 

[Nords]

Any three-star agreeing to that set of orders should've been immediately retired on 100% disability. Either they're insanely ambitious or they're too dumb to be capable of handling the job. The people who'll suffer the most are the action officers making those PowerPoint slides.

Petraeus, however, is crafty enough to let this poor sucker provide all the top cover. After all, Petraeus could do anything if he wasn't being undercut by the Czar.

Somewhere on an 18th green, Tommy Franks & Stormin' Norman are high-fiving each other at getting out of the trap with their lives and their pensions... and I sure hope they're paying Colin Powell's bar tab.

 

[Mwsinron]

You dont hear much from Powell anymore.. I wonder why..

 

[Nords]

You dont hear much from Powell anymore.. I wonder why..

He got it off his chest in "Soldier" and he's moved on with his life. His wife was extremely unhappy about the whole SecState gig and she didn't look forward to any further personal security problems. I think they had a little talk about the back half of the first term.

But I hear he's invited Dick Cheney to go quail hunting.

 

[Mwsinron]

He got it off his chest in "Soldier" and he's moved on with his life. His wife was extremely unhappy about the whole SecState gig and she didn't look forward to any further personal security problems. I think they had a little talk about the back half of the first term.

But I hear he's invited Dick Cheney to go quail hunting.

What could possibly go wrong quail hunting with Dick. I mean thats as good as the stock market going up forever...

 

[FinallyRetired]

Any three-star agreeing to that set of orders should've been immediately retired on 100% disability. Either they're insanely ambitious or they're too dumb to be capable of handling the job.

You got that exactly right. This from today's Washington Post:

"The selection capped a difficult recruitment process for the White House, as its initial candidates rejected the job. At least five retired four-star generals approached by the White House or intermediaries refused to be considered. Lute, a three-star general now serving as chief operations officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in effect will jump over many superiors as he moves to the West Wing and assumes authority to deal directly with Cabinet secretaries and top commanders."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501612.html?hpid=topnews

The people who'll suffer the most are the action officers making those PowerPoint slides.

I sympathize with the AOs but I fear more for the young men and women in theater who will suffer from disjointed policies. Hopefully you're right and Petraeus will just ignore this guy or use him as top cover. He pretty much has to, since Lute is not in his reporting chain. Besides we already have a "war czar," in fact we have two of them, SECDEF and CJCS and their war duties are set in the law. Now we have a third, reminds me of the old Troika system in the Soviet Union when it was going down the tubes.

I wonder if these guys ever heard of the principle of Unity of Command? Every day that goes by I'm happier that I'm retired.

 

[FinallyRetired]

Clearly.

Have to wait for the housing market to turn around, could be years.

 

[Arif]

I think they draw straws for that assignement. Just look at how long it took for them to fill the position. No one wanted that job and for good reason.

BTW- Isn't ol GW supposed to be the commander in chief? Looks like he delegated that job to the war czar.

 

[dex]

Ok, this is no comment on the war.
I think he is being called a manager. But isn't Czar a Russian term? They lost didn't they? Can we find another word?

Managers in general - Didn't we have generals that ran the wars? Eisenhower? McGarther? With so many managers I think there will be one private fighting a war and everyone else will be gathering info and managing.

End

 

[bright eyed]

I think Peter Principle will come a knockin' on this one!

 

[bssc]

Ok, this is no comment on the war.
I think he is being called a manager. But isn't Czar a Russian term? They lost didn't they? Can we find another word?

This has been around a while as a metaphorical term in Washington. James Schlesinger was referred to as Carter's energy czars. There have also been education czars, anti-terrorism czars and drug czars. As you can see, when ever the term has been used, there has been a positive out come. Right?

 

[ladelfina]

Can we find another word?

I agree! But you have to think of what the intent is behind it. Since in a tiresome democracy there has to be agreement, horse-trading, compromise, adhering to laws and all that stuff.. how refreshing it is to have a Czar who is in theory going to forge ahead cutting a great swath through the unwashed hordes.

The etymology of "czar" originates with "Caesar".. the deified Roman emperors.

It's obvious that's what some segment of the populace really wants:
"Double Guantanamo!" (loud applause)

In the reality-based world, it's just gonna be another tactic to deflect responsibility/accountability and criticism.

 

[chinaco]

What could possibly go wrong quail hunting with Dick.