Who is in charge of Iraq policy

Tom Friedman:

Here's this week's news quiz. It's just one question, but it's a big one: Who's in charge of U.S. policy in Iraq? No, seriously, give yourself a simple test. Just look in a mirror and mouth these words: "Overall coordinator and strategist of U.S. policy in Iraq today," and tell me whose picture comes into your head.

George Bush? Donald Rumsfeld? Porter Goss? Dick Cheney? Condi Rice? Steve Hadley? Colin Powell? General Casey? Karl Rove? Bono? Arnold Schwarzenegger? Tommy Franks? David Stern? (He should be in charge.)

I confess that I cover this story and it has never been clear to me who was our chief strategist for Iraq - who was really orchestrating the intelligence and public affairs, with the politics, diplomacy and military operations, around a coherent plan that was being communicated to Iraqis and the world. Indeed, I have never understood how an administration that wanted a war so badly and will be judged on it by history so profoundly, could manage it so sloppily. Right now we need an "intelligent czar" for Iraq much more than we need an "intelligence czar" for America.


Is Friedman really as ignorant as his statements in this column? US policy in Iraq is set by the commander of Centcom General Abizaid who is not even mentioned in friedman's column. As with any field commander he is given wide latitude in accomplishing his mission but his policies are reviewed by the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense and ultimately by the President. I think Friedman probably knows this, but liberals are still afraid to criticize US military commanders so they tend to shift responsibility up the chain of command in order to make every issue of operation political.

Friedman also complains that the US has no strategy for communicating its message to the Muslim world. Actually, the US has several ways of communicating witht he Arab world including a US operated satilite channel. But, Friedman's big mistake is overstating the ability of Zarqawi et.al. to communicate their message. If these guys are such great communicators why is it that out of over a billion Muslims they only been able to attract a few thousand insurgents to their cause? Why is Zarqawi complaining about Islamic clerics turning their backs on his appeals for assistance once he was kicked out of Fallujah?

If Friedman would let go of his liberalism long enough to go talk to General Abizaid he would have a better grasp on just how the US is defeating the insurgents and he might even figure out who is in charge.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

Washington Post: Some Democrats eye adding more justices to the Supreme Court to change its ideological bent The once-remote idea has gained the attention of liberals angered by the GOP push to remake the federal courts. Probably the easy way to defeat this court-packing scheme is for Trump to propose doing the same thing now.  It would lead to Democrat denunciations and claims that it would be wrong, thereby blowing up any attempt by them in the unfortunate event of Democrats winning a presidential election.
Read more

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Conn Carroll: A new survey of 368 midsize to large companies found that 29% of them are considering terminating their active employee health care plans when Obamacare is full implemented in 2014. Only 71% of employers surveyed said they did not expect to drop their health coverage, while 20% said they did not know and 9% said they were planning to exit. The latest survey, conducted by Towers Watson, echoes an ealier survey by McKinsey & Co. finding that 30% of private-sector employers were planning to drop their employee health insurance coverage by 2014. When the Congressional Budget Office crunched Obamacare's spending numbers, they estimated that only 7% of employees currently covered by employer-sponsored plans would lose their plans. ... This means the cost of the health care fiasco will be hundreds of billions more than estimated by the CBO and Congressional Democrat. It is also clear that Obama's pledge that you could keep your health care plan if you wanted t
Read more

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains

James Robbins: ... Bin Laden suggests that President Bush should allow Zarqawi’s body to be returned to his family in Jordan, but this is a matter that is up to the Jordanian government, which so far has not shown much interest in facilitating a homecoming. Bin Laden mocks King Abdullah II, calling him a Coalition minion, and asking “w hat scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead? You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedin.” A large crowd would definitely turn out, though most people would be on hand to demonstrate their anger and disgust. Last November’s hotel bombings in Amman , masterminded by Zarqawi, are still fresh in people’s memory, and mentioning them to Jordanians has the same visceral impact as memory of the 9/11 attacks does here. Jordan has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards those who choose to mourn the country’s least favorite son, and four opposition members of parliament who paid con
Read more