No Wonder No One Else Wanted the Job

/in /by

Jane and Steve Soto connect the dots, so you don’t have to. The guy they’ve just appointed to be war czar, Douglas Lute? He was an early advocate (well, for the military world, which puts him just two years behind the blogosphere) for withdrawal:

The interesting thing about the selection of Lute is that he advocated for a withdrawal from Iraq back in 2005so that the Iraqis would step up and take responsibility for their ownsecurity. In fact, Lute is a proponent of the theory that our forcesneed to be withdrawn so that the Iraqis no longer have the excuse of an occupationto do nothing on the political front. In fact, Lute was a supporter ofGeneral George Casey’s and John Abizaid’s belief that we needed totrain the Iraqis and draw down forces, not surge to an increase, a viewthat was tossed aside by Bush after the Baker/Hamilton report came out.

"We want to undercut that notion of occupying force," hesaid, recognising the argument that a less prominent US role could helpstabilise the country.

Unfortunately, Lute said this almost 2 years ago.

This begs the question: why would Bush offer the job tosomeone who has never advocated an increase in our forces and insteadbelieves that the political solution must be pushed immediately whileour forces are drawn down regardless of the outcome of thosediscussions? Sure, when the president offers you a job, you feel boundto accept, but more senior generals had already blown off Bush. So whywould Lute take a job given his well-documented track record in supportof a drawdown and handing over control to the Iraqis?

I guess it’s not just that Condi and Hadley are incompetent to do their job.

We taxpayers pay a National Security Advisor to make sure that someonemediates the opinions and agendas of the many strong-willed peoplerunning our foreign policy. We pay that person to make sure that ourforeign policy is managed well. But once again, the person in the position is not up to the task.

They needed a designated fall guy–someone hired for the primary purpose of accepting all the blame of withdrawing the troops. So six months and one year and fifty years from now, poor Stephen Hadley and George Bush have someone to blame for losing the Iraq War. 

Republicans–they outsource everything. Even their blame.

  1. Woodhall Hollow says:

    I would love to know what those Repub representatives said to him re the ’08 elections. You know that he was read some kind of riot act on that score.

    Considering what has just happened to McNulty–perhaps Lute might want to reconsider.

    The timing of this announcement today is interesting as well. Tony is on his game.

  2. freepatriot says:

    it’s not like this is a really a hard job

    they stuff some candy up your ass, hang you from a rope, and let the press whack the shit out of you with sticks

    you don’t need any prior experience

    you just need a medical insurance plan

  3. hauksdottir says:

    Cheney signed off on this appointment?

    Even if Congress votes to withdraw all of our troops and equipment down to the last sandbag and water bottle and mercenary, I wouldn’t believe that Bush would do anything but escalate rather than admit that he is a total, absolute, complete failure. Cheney won’t let go of Iraq until he has those oil contracts in hand… and the Parliament has continually put off privatization as well as the other issues they haven’t dealt with since their election.

    So, if Bush thinks that he can pass the blame and allow his War Czed to draw down troops, I bet that Cheney finds some way to circumvent it.

    Of course, those troops will be sitting ducks as soon as Cheney bombs Iran.

    When all those bible-thumpers were in Bush’s office last week for the 90 minute meeting about Iran, were they discussing the timetable for Armageddon? Or just finding the right quotes to support the Neocon Crusade?

  4. bmaz says:

    How many different czars does our government have now? We need a czar to keep track of all the czars. I hereby nominate Czar Czar Binks.

  5. Sara says:

    One word, Pakistan.

    What is Bush going to do with reference to Pakistan? He could be looking at two civil wars, and in one they have nukes.

  6. orionATL says:

    the invasion/war is over.

    lute was brought in to bring the matter to a close.

    in this view,

    lute is not a scapegoat:

    he’s a stand-in for bush so bush will not have to personally repudiate his own invasion/war.

  7. dipper says:

    Republicans–they outsource everything. Even their blame.

    Good line, Marcy, bear repeating.

  8. ab initio says:

    EW, that’s what Fineman said on KO’s show today – another bus is revving up so that Lute could be thrown under since Petraeus has been praised so much it would be far too much dissonance to throw him under. Just another floor mat to be walked over by this Administration that cannot get themselves to admit a mistake.

    No different than AbuG throwing McNulty under the bus today. I hope this really pisses McNulty to spill some beans. He’s the guy that was counsel on the Clinton impeachment. So there’s no clean hands in DoJ.

    I was stunned by Comey’s testimony today. There’s a lot behind the warantless spying on Americans. Will Rockerfeller do anything? I am sure he knows about it all with the letter to Cheney in his safe. Will Jane Harman step up and tell us?

  9. Anonymous says:

    WAR MONGERING I just returned from Washington Monthly.. a discussion of the new CENTCOM chief regarding an extra carrier group in the Strait of Hormus
    Fallon’s refusal to support a further naval buildup in the Gulf reflected his firm opposition to an attack on Iran and an apparent readiness to put his career on the line to prevent it. A source who met privately with Fallon around the time of his confirmation hearing and who insists on anonymity quoted Fallon as saying that an attack on Iran â€will not happen on my watchâ€.

    Asked how he could be sure, the source says, Fallon replied, â€You know what choices I have. I’m a professional.†Fallon said that he was not alone, according to the source, adding, â€There are several of us trying to put the crazies back in the box.â€

    So the BUSHCO has illusions of atarting a war with Iran who has some military capacity unlike Iraq. The utter STUPIDITY has no limit. Zappa was right there is more stupidity than hydrgen building blocks so the Universe must be made of it.
    I must warn you all that the ploy of propaganda is to plant the seed before the planned event takes place. The NY Times headline today â€Inspectors Cite Big Gain by Iran on Nuclear Fuel†is no coincidence. Last fall the story was Iran will not have nukes for five to ten years. Here is another cover story distraction. Tommorrow they may start up the yellow and amber warnings to take away more rights.

  10. Anonymous says:

    So why would Lute take a job given his well-documented track record in support of a drawdown and handing over control to the Iraqis?

    simple answer — and its the same one for Petraus. Personal ambition (a fourth star) have overcome their previously expressed views on how Iraq should be handled.

    IIRC, the generals who turned Bush down were all â€four starsâ€â€¦.they had nothing to gain by putting their necks on the line.

    One other aspect of this search for a â€war czar†is that it seemed to be concentrated within the military. Considering the fact that this position is supposed to co-ordinate military and non-military initiatives, this seems more than a little bit strange. Indeed, it sounds to me like a Cheney strategy to marginalize civilian leadership by giving the job to someone whose perspective is first and foremost military.

  11. MarkusQ says:

    It raises the question, but it doesn’t beg it.

    Other than that, great post!

    – MarkusQ

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