Quick rant

A quick rant about this article in the NY Times today regarding the selection of a so-called "war czar" by the Bush administration to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Look at who they selected: a three star general whose current position is "top operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff". Oh, by the way, he'll remain in the military and retain his post.

Basically, what the idiots at the White House are proposing (he must be confirmed by the Senate and I hope that they don't) is that this 3 star general both report to the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as leap from over them in rank and become the coordinator and runner of the war. He will trump them and may well trump Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whose actions to date haven't won him favor in the administration.

“We needed to get the right concept, the right man — or woman — and we have,” the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, who led the search, said in an interview on Tuesday evening.

How disingenuous of this fuckwad! They've approached a half dozen people, including 5 star generals who, when they retired, outranked their candidate AND actually had more responsibilities than their candidate who have all turned them down when offered the job. Some of done so publicly! And, yet, now they have the right man (and DON'T get me started on the "right woman" remark since we all know that the top brass at the military is a penis posse).

What does General Lute get out of this? My guess is that he's simply thinking ahead towards his civilian career. He gets a short term position that boosts his prestige in the eyes of the neocon nuts which will no doubt result in lucrative jobs and speaking engagements in the future. He likely wasn't going to be promotable in the Pentagon, saw that his future was limited there and began thinking about how to move elsewhere. This gives him the opportunity to leap over those above him and lays the groundwork for that new future.

But, he's got to deal with the idiots in the White House. He's probably a sycophant and will push their policies over what he might see as good sense. Things are only going to get worse on both fronts. Current White House strategy calls for not getting out of Iraq until long after the next election at which time Lute will be fired. It's going to continue to get ugly and that won't bode well for General Lute, who might find himself wanting to sing a different tune come 2008.