The President Can't Find a "War Czar"

[Chicken Little]

From WaPo:

quote: 3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar'
Bush Seeks Overseer For Iraq, Afghanistan

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.

At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.
   
"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," said retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job....[more]

/Emphasis mine.  The position is already filled.  It's called the Commander-in-Chief.

[MichaelC]

quote:"So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks,' " he said.

That's funny.

[iplaw]

That's a cute story.  We have three former military officials who've turned the job down.  Oh where Oh where could we possibly go to find someone to fill the job?  Maybe the other innumerable thousands of other military officials who are left.

I love stories that cite phantom sources "close to the situation."

[grahambino]

or govt. sources that speak on a 'condition of anonymity'

i guess w cant be expected to be commander in chief decider.

[Conan71]

Why not pick a CNN or NBC producer to run the war?  They've pretty much run the direction of it in the court of public opinion anyhow.

[Chicken Little]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

That's a cute story.  We have three former military officials who've turned the job down.  Oh where Oh where could we possibly go to find someone to fill the job?  Maybe the other innumerable thousands of other military officials who are left.

I love stories that cite phantom sources "close to the situation."

The people he is asking, presumably the one's that are the most knowledgeable and able, are turning him down.  Not once, not twice, but thrice.  At least.  Duty-bound folks are turning down requests from the President.  

What, the military is a large organization and eventually he might find somebody?  How is that supposed to make me feel better?

As for unnamed sources...they have spread more manure than John Deere in the last six years.  But I'll take the info and wade through it myself, thank you.  In this case, Sheehan actually has a name, and he seems to confirm that he was one of the three.

[iplaw]

quote:The people he is asking, presumably the one's that are the most knowledgeable and able, are turning him down.  Not once, not twice, but thrice.  At least.  Duty-bound folks are turning down requests from the President.  

You're making more out of the story than it says.  The Washington Post story doesn't give you an objective look at the search.  It merely went and found individuals who declined the position, big deal.

Will they do a story on the people who are considering taking the job, or the one who does accept it...probably not, but that's not as fun as Bush bashing now is it?

[Chicken Little]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Why not pick a CNN or NBC producer to run the war?  They've pretty much run the direction of it in the court of public opinion anyhow.

Why not give it to a Fox producer?  Them Iraqis would be in their "last throes" before sunset.  Or at least, that's what the little crawler at the bottom of the screen would tell me...and that's all that matters.  Sheesh.

[iplaw]

quote:Originally posted by Chicken Little

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Why not pick a CNN or NBC producer to run the war?  They've pretty much run the direction of it in the court of public opinion anyhow.

Why not give it to a Fox producer?  Them Iraqis would be in their "last throes" before sunset.  Or at least, that's what the little crawler at the bottom of the screen would tell me...and that's all that matters.  Sheesh.

Yeah.  That's why the Kurdish National Party ran ads exclusively on Fox News thanking the American people for taking down Saddam, because Fox hates the Iraqi people and wants to see them all die.  Good call.

[Chicken Little]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

quote:Originally posted by Chicken Little

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

Why not pick a CNN or NBC producer to run the war?  They've pretty much run the direction of it in the court of public opinion anyhow.

Why not give it to a Fox producer?  Them Iraqis would be in their "last throes" before sunset.  Or at least, that's what the little crawler at the bottom of the screen would tell me...and that's all that matters.  Sheesh.

Yeah.  That's why the Kurdish National Party ran ads exclusively on Fox News thanking the American people for taking down Saddam, because Fox hates the Iraqi people and wants to see them all die.  Good call.

Sorry if I touched a nerve...you're absolutely right.  If we only had eight Faux News Channels, we'd be hearing more of that Good News from Iraq TM, pat.pending, instead of "isolated events" and media sensationalism.  Dude, they're blowing up the parliament building...in the middle of the green zone.  This thing is over.  Generals know it.  I know it.  Most of America knows it.  How long before "You decide."?

As for the Kurds, if that's our "over the horizon" position, then fine.  Turkey ain't gonna like it, but they wouldn't be the first country Muslim country we've enraged this week.

[iplaw]

quote:Sorry if I touched a nerve...you're absolutely right.  If we only had eight Faux News Channels, we'd be hearing more of that Good News from Iraq TM, pat.pending, instead of "isolated events" and media sensationalism.  Dude, they're blowing up the parliament building...in the middle of the green zone.  This thing is over.  Generals know it.  I know it.  How long before "You decide."?

Yet again with this overused canard that the "genruls" want us out.  Ballocks.  The generals that YOU quote do, because they fit your opinion.  For every 1 general that says something negative there are 10 who say differently, and generally they are the ones ON THE GROUND right now.

And I hate to inform you, but this is FAR from over, and the only way the US can lose is if we choose to do so.  Militarily we cannot be defeated, but politically we can be.

Walking away would create an untenable situation and would create a humanitarian crisis the likes of which would make Darfur and Rwanda look like a cake walk.  Like it or not we are committed to the task and hand, and leaving simply isn't an option to anyone who gives a damn about the Iraqi people.

There are only two options.  

1.  The first is to stick this out until a peace can be brokered; or

2.  To pull out and watch as mass destruction and genocide take over and be forced to re-commit troops back to the region to quash the inevitable genocide being perpetrated against either the sunni or shia, whichever group gets the short end of the stick.  I would assume that to be the sunni since Iran is currently funding the shia uprising.

[iplaw]

Do yourself a favor and read the letter Zarqawi wrote which was intercepted in Kurdistan.  See if you're not playing right into his hands:

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/31694.htm

5. The Work Mechanism

Our current situation, as I have previously told you, obliges us to deal with the matter with courage and clarity and to move quickly to do so because we consider that [unless we do so] there will be no result in which religion will appear. The solution that we see, and God the Exalted knows better, is for us to drag the Shi`a into the battle because this is the only way to prolong the fighting between us and the infidels. We say that we must drag them into battle for several reasons, which are:

1 – They, i.e., the Shi`a, have declared a secret war against the people of Islam. They are the proximate, dangerous enemy of the Sunnis, even if the Americans are also an archenemy. The danger from the Shi`a, however, is greater and their damage is worse and more destructive to the [Islamic] nation than the Americans, on whom you find a quasi-consensus about killing them as an assailing enemy.

2 – They have befriended and supported the Americans and stood in their ranks against the mujahidin. They have spared and are still sparing no effort to put an end to the jihad and the mujahidin.

3 – Our fighting against the Shi`a is the way to drag the [Islamic] nation into the battle. We speak here in some detail. We have said before that the Shi`a have put on the uniforms of the Iraqi army, police, and security [forces] and have raised the banner of preserving the homeland and the citizen. Under this banner, they have begun to liquidate the Sunnis under the pretext that they are saboteurs, remnants of the Ba`th, and terrorists spreading evil in the land. With strong media guidance from the Governing Council and the Americans, they have been able to come between the Sunni masses and the mujahidin. I give an example that brings the matter close to home in the area called the Sunni Triangle -- if this is the right name for it. The army and police have begun to deploy in those areas and are growing stronger day by day. They have put chiefs [drawn] from among Sunni agents and the people of the land in charge. In other words, this army and police may be linked to the inhabitants of this area by kinship, blood, and honor. In truth, this area is the base from which we set out and to which we return. When the Americans disappear from these areas – and they have begun to do so – and these agents, who are linked by destiny to the people of the land, take their place, what will our situation be?

If we fight them {and we must fight them}, we will confront one of two things. Either:

1 – We fight them, and this is difficult because of the gap that will emerge between us and the people of the land. How can we fight their cousins and their sons and under what pretext after the Americans, who hold the reins of power from their rear bases, pull back? The real sons of this land will decide the matter through experience. Democracy is coming, and there will be no excuse thereafter.

2 – We pack our bags and search for another land, as is the sad, recurrent story in the arenas of jihad, because our enemy is growing stronger and his intelligence data are increasing day by day. By the Lord of the Ka`ba, [this] is suffocation and then wearing down the roads. People follow the religion of their kings. Their hearts are with you and their swords are with Bani Umayya (the Umayyads), i.e., with power, victory, and security. God have mercy.

I come back and again say that the only solution is for us to strike the religious, military, and other cadres among the Shi`a with blow after blow until they bend to the Sunnis. Someone may say that, in this matter, we are being hasty and rash and leading the [Islamic] nation into a battle for which it is not ready, [a battle] that will be revolting and in which blood will be spilled. This is exactly what we want, since right and wrong no longer have any place in our current situation. The Shi`a have destroyed all those balances. God's religion is more precious that lives and souls. When the overwhelming majority stands in the ranks of truth, there has to be sacrifice for this religion. Let blood be spilled, and we will soothe and speed those who are good to their paradise. [As for} those who, unlike them, are evil, we will be delivered from them, since, by God, God's religion is more precious than anything and has priority over lives, wealth, and children. The best proof [of this] is the story of the Companions of the Ditch, whom God praised. [Imam] al-Nawawi said that this story contained proof that, if the city and the desert fought each other until all without exception perished unless they professed belief in the oneness of God, this would be good. Persons live, blood is saved, and honor is preserved only by sacrifice on behalf of this religion. By God, o brothers, with the Shi`a, we have rounds, attacks, and dark nights that we cannot postpone under any circumstances. Their danger is imminent, and what we and you feared is most certainly a reality. Know that those [Shi`a] are the most cowardly of God's creatures and that killing their leaders will only increase their weakness and cowardice, since with the death of one of their leaders the sect dies with him. It is not like when a Sunni leader dies. If one dies or is killed, a sayyid arises. In their fighting, they bring out courage and hearten the weak among the Sunnis. If you knew the fear [that exists] among the Sunnis and their masses, your eyes would cry over them in sadness. How many mosques have been converted into Husayniyyas (Shi`i mosques), how many houses have they demolished on the heads of their occupants, how many brothers have they killed and mutilated, and how many sisters have had their honor defiled at the hands of these depraved infidels? If we are able to strike them with one painful blow after another until they enter the battle, we will be able to [re]shuffle the cards. Then, no value or influence will remain to the Governing Council or even to the Americans, who will enter a second battle with the Shi`a. This is what we want, and, whether they like it or not, many Sunni areas will stand with the mujahidin. Then, the mujahidin will have assured themselves land from which to set forth in striking the Shi`a in their heartland, along with a clear media orientation and the creation of strategic depth and reach among the brothers outside [Iraq] and the mujahidin within.

1 -- We are striving urgently and racing against time to create companies of mujahidin that will repair to secure places and strive to reconnoiter the country, hunting the enemy – Americans, police, and soldiers -- on the roads and lanes. We are continuing to train and multiply them. As for the Shi`a, we will hurt them, God willing, through martyrdom operations and car bombs.

2. – We have been striving for some time to observe the arena and sift the those who work in it in search of those who are sincere and on the right path, so that we can cooperate with them for the good and coordinate some actions with them, so as to achieve solidarity and unity after testing and trying them. We hope that we have made good progress. Perhaps we will decide to go public soon, even if in a gradual way, so that we can come out into the open. We have been hiding for a long time. We are seriously preparing media material that will reveal the facts, call forth firm intentions, arouse determination, and be[come] an arena of jihad in which the pen and the sword complement each other.

3 – This will be accompanied by an effort that we hope will intensify to expose crippling doubts and explain the rules of shari`a through tapes, printed materials, study, and courses of learning [meant] to expand awareness, anchor the doctrine of the unity of God, prepare the infrastructure, and meet [our] obligation.[/i]

Yeah.  Let's play right into their hands and just walk away giving them everything they wanted...

[Chicken Little]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

Do yourself a favor and read the letter Zarqawi wrote which was intercepted in Kurdistan.  See if you're response isn't playing right into his hands:

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/31694.htm

I've never understood why some people are so willing to let a handful of radical creeps determine our next move for us.  Zarqawi is a dead thug.  Just like Saddam.  Ahmadinejad is a blowhard.  I certainly understand that there is an cavernous void where there should be a US Middle East policy, but since when are the motormouth ravings of zealots a reasonable facsimile?  Nostradamus may have something to say about bears and flashing lights, does he get a vote, too?

Our next move should be ours.  Our President can't seem figure it out.  And he's running out of reasonable men, brave men, who think "Staying the Course" is anything more than a bumper sticker cliche.

[rwarn17588]

I think half the problem is you've got a bunch of knuckleheads in the administration who jump up every time someone in the Middle East shoots his mouth off, instead of keeping their cool.

This thing in Iraq is done. Let 'em have their civil war without us. It's already going now; it's just in a slower motion. All American troops are doing is prolonging the inevitable.

[iplaw]

quote:I've never understood why some people are so willing to let a handful of radical creeps determine our next move for us.  Zarqawi is a dead thug.  Just like Saddam.  Ahmadinejad is a blowhard.  I certainly understand that there is an cavernous void where there should be a US Middle East policy, but since when are the motormouth ravings of zealots a reasonable facsimile?

That was the exact same attitude we had towards OBL before 9/11, in fact the exact same attitude this country had when we were given the opportunity to take him out.  We ingore these fanatics at our own peril.