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| Iraq |
| Powell puts Iraqi transition in hands of Foggy Bottom hack |
| 2004-01-15 |
| EFL Over the objections of the Bush administrationâs hawks, Secretary of State Powell is bringing back President Clintonâs point man to the old Iraqi opposition to oversee the transfer of power to an Iraqi government in Baghdad from coalition forces. Next week, the American ambassador to the Philippines, Francis Ricciardone, will take up new offices in Foggy Bottom to run what one State Department official told The New York Sun is an âIraq policy super office.â In his new capacity he will negotiate the status of American forces in Iraq and prepare for the opening of an American Embassy in Baghdad after a new government is formed in June. Administration officials told the Sun that the deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, tried for weeks to block the appointment of Mr. Ricciardone. Translation: heâs no Paul Bremer. Between 1999 and 2001, Mr. Ricciardone was in charge of implementing [the Iraqi Liberation Act] for the State Department. He spent much of his time seeking to broaden the INCâs coalition of Saddam Husseinâs opponents and fighting with the ones willing to work with America get rid of the tyrant. âI think it is a horrible shame that the person appointed to thwart congressional intent on the Iraq Liberation Act is now pulled from the Philippines to work on Iraq policy,â one of the staff members who wrote that legislation, Randy Scheunemann, said yesterday. âItâs an insult to Iraqi democrats and a slap at our interests in the Philippines.â As much as many of the administrationâs hawks dislike Mr. Ricciardone, Secretary Powell has grown to rely on him. Shortly after September 11, 2001, Mr. Powell tapped him to run the State Departmentâs task force on the coalition against terrorism, a 24-hour a day operations center that monitored diplomatic traffic on Al Qaeda. The career foreign service officer was also on the front lines of the Clinton administrationâs efforts to try Saddam in an international tribunal, similar to the one hearing the case against Serbian ex-dictator Slobodan Milosevic. That was then, this is now. Mr. Ricciardone was also a key player in the State Departmentâs early attempts to expand the Iraqi opposition to bring back opposition groups sponsored by the Iranian government. Woo hoo! Bring on SCIRI, al-Dawa, and that theocracy. |
| Posted by:someone |
| #22 And I suppose it's coincidence that the IGC is trying to impose sharia in Iraq at just the same time. I didn't back Bush and the war to hand the results over to a bunch of turbans. |
| Posted by: Nero 2004-1-15 10:16:46 PM |
| #21 And Walter George for Ambassador to Zion. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-15 7:48:18 PM |
| #20 And the CVN Carl Vinson for House Majority Leader. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-15 7:46:51 PM |
| #19 Zell Miller for State, Sam Nunn for Defense. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-15 7:45:44 PM |
| #18 Did Rice clean house at Stanford? I want Wolfowitz running State. |
| Posted by: someone 2004-1-15 6:04:57 PM |
| #17 Look for him to depart soon after Bush's re-election, and possibly have Condi Rice put in there to tear the joint apart. Good. If she can't tear it apart, she'll probably do a bang-up job cleaning it out of all the rubbish. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-15 6:04:48 PM |
| #16 I would love to see Condi Rice as Secretary of State. I hope that it happens for our sake, Old Spook. |
| Posted by: Sgt.DT 2004-1-15 6:03:10 PM |
| #15 Powell was a good general in the mold of Geroge C. Marshall. But he has been inside the beltway too long, he's started to go-along to get-along far too much instead of housecleaning in Foggy Bottom like he should. Look for him to depart soon after Bush's re-election, and possibly have Condi Rice put in there to tear the joint apart. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-1-15 5:55:07 PM |
| #14 Dammit, if Bush wants to lose my vote for him in November this is DEFINITELY the way to do it! |
| Posted by: Val 2004-1-15 4:38:20 PM |
| #13 The career foreign service officer was also on the front lines of the Clinton administrationâs efforts to try Saddam in an international tribunal, similar to the one hearing the case against Serbian ex-dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Great. We all know what a resounding success the eurotrash has had prosecuting slobo for war crimes. Does that mean this guy will have saddam getting elected to the IRAQI PARLIAMENT in a few years? |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-15 3:40:41 PM |
| #12 Er, "in hands of"... Brain lock. Fred, please fix? |
| Posted by: someone 2004-1-15 3:35:31 PM |
| #11 And I suppose it's coincidence that the IGC is trying to impose sharia in Iraq at just the same time. I didn't back Bush and the war to hand the results over to a bunch of turbans. |
| Posted by: Nero 2004-1-15 10:16:46 PM |
| #10 And Walter George for Ambassador to Zion. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-15 7:48:18 PM |
| #9 And the CVN Carl Vinson for House Majority Leader. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-15 7:46:51 PM |
| #8 Zell Miller for State, Sam Nunn for Defense. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-15 7:45:44 PM |
| #7 Did Rice clean house at Stanford? I want Wolfowitz running State. |
| Posted by: someone 2004-1-15 6:04:57 PM |
| #6 Look for him to depart soon after Bush's re-election, and possibly have Condi Rice put in there to tear the joint apart. Good. If she can't tear it apart, she'll probably do a bang-up job cleaning it out of all the rubbish. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-15 6:04:48 PM |
| #5 I would love to see Condi Rice as Secretary of State. I hope that it happens for our sake, Old Spook. |
| Posted by: Sgt.DT 2004-1-15 6:03:10 PM |
| #4 Powell was a good general in the mold of Geroge C. Marshall. But he has been inside the beltway too long, he's started to go-along to get-along far too much instead of housecleaning in Foggy Bottom like he should. Look for him to depart soon after Bush's re-election, and possibly have Condi Rice put in there to tear the joint apart. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-1-15 5:55:07 PM |
| #3 Dammit, if Bush wants to lose my vote for him in November this is DEFINITELY the way to do it! |
| Posted by: Val 2004-1-15 4:38:20 PM |
| #2 The career foreign service officer was also on the front lines of the Clinton administrationâs efforts to try Saddam in an international tribunal, similar to the one hearing the case against Serbian ex-dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Great. We all know what a resounding success the eurotrash has had prosecuting slobo for war crimes. Does that mean this guy will have saddam getting elected to the IRAQI PARLIAMENT in a few years? |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-15 3:40:41 PM |
| #1 Er, "in hands of"... Brain lock. Fred, please fix? |
| Posted by: someone 2004-1-15 3:35:31 PM |