*Somebody* must know who's in charge

[kosar]

Sunday, Jun. 29, 2003
Meeting last month at a sweltering U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, with his top Iraq commanders, President Bush skipped quickly past the niceties and went straight to his chief political obsession: Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Turning to his Baghdad proconsul, Paul Bremer, Bush asked, "Are you in charge of finding WMD?" Bremer said no, he was not. Bush then put the same question to his military commander, General Tommy Franks. But Franks said it wasn't his job either. A little exasperated, Bush asked, So who is in charge of finding WMD? After aides conferred for a moment, someone volunteered the name of Stephen Cambone, a little-known deputy to Donald Rumsfeld, back in Washington. Pause. "Who?" Bush asked.

 

[djv]

Seems about right.

 

[ferdville]

While this speaks volumes about W's ability to make an ass out of himself so often, I doubt if there really is one man in charge of finding the weapons of mass destruction. And if there is, I am not so sure Cambone would actually have that title. I am sure that Cambone answers to a dozen people. Nevertheless, this is another example of Bush making himself look stupid - something that is becoming all too common.

 

[ferdville]

This is from The Washington Monthly

It would be hard to exaggerate how much Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top aide Steven Cambone were hated within the Pentagon prior to September 11. Among other mistakes, Rumsfeld and Cambone foolishly excluded top civilian and military leaders when planning an overhaul of the military to meet new threats, thereby ensuring even greater bureaucratic resistance. According to The Washington Post, an Army general joked to a Hill staffer that "if he had one round left in his revolver, he would take out Steve Cambone." Cambone's reputation in the building hasn't improved much since September 11, but Rumsfeld's has been transformed. Moments after the attack on the Pentagon, the secretary rushed to the scene, putting himself in harm's way to help with the rescue effort. That brave act won Rumsfeld deep loyalty within the military. He has also gotten high marks for the confident precision of his press conference performances, and for his willingness to delegate war-fighting tactics to the brass. Alas, the secretary still has not figured out how to manage the building. One insider reports that he and his management team have "completely lost control" of their efforts to organize homeland defense, with multiple overlapping task forces and bureaucratic turf battles grinding progress to a halt.

 

[djv]

Seems they still dont know.

 

[THE KOD]

 

[auspice]

Good grief!! That may be the most incredible thing I've ever heard of. No more knowledge of the administrative protocol of the hunt for 'WMD' than that.....pathetic.

Sort of solidifies any doubt we may have had about a good 'end game' being in place doesn't it? We now know we have no chance. No chance at all.

I've got to get myself a good mantra to chant rather than think about politics. It's entirely too frustrating.