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| Bush Nominates War Czar |
| 2007-05-16 |
| President Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute yesterday to serve as a new White House "war czar" overseeing the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, choosing a low-key soldier who privately expressed skepticism about sending more troops to Iraq during last winter's strategy review. In the newly created position, Lute will coordinate often disjointed military and civilian operations and manage the Washington side of the same troop increase he resisted before Bush announced the plan in January. Bush hopes an empowered aide working in the White House and answering directly to him will be able to cut through bureaucracy that has hindered efforts in Iraq. The selection capped a difficult recruitment process for the White House, as its initial candidates rejected the job. At least five retired four-star generals approached by the White House or intermediaries refused to be considered. Lute, a three-star general now serving as chief operations officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in effect will jump over many superiors as he moves to the West Wing and assumes authority to deal directly with Cabinet secretaries and top commanders. "General Lute is a tremendously accomplished military leader who understands war and government and knows how to get things done," Bush said in a statement. In choosing Lute, Bush picked a key internal voice of dissent during the administration review that led to the troop increase. Reflecting the views of other members of the Joint Chiefs, Lute argued that a short-term "surge" would do little good and that any sustained increase in forces had to be matched by equal emphasis on political and economic steps, according to officials informed about the deliberations. Lute believed the situation in Iraq reflected the same mistakes as the ineffective and disorganized response to Hurricane Katrina, according to a source familiar with the debate. Like others at the Pentagon, he was also irked because civilian agencies, in his view, had not done nearly enough to help stabilize Iraq. And he was outspoken about the increasing strains on the U.S. military, officials said. National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley said Lute raised his concerns during talks before his selection. "He had the same skepticism a lot of us had," Hadley said. "That's one of the reasons we designed the strategy the way we did." By joining the White House, Hadley said, Lute can ensure that the economic and political elements of the plan are implemented. "In some sense, he's part of the cure for the problems he was concerned about." Until Bush decided this spring to create the position, the highest-ranking White House official working exclusively on Iraq and Afghanistan was a deputy national security adviser reporting to Hadley. Lute, by contrast, will have the rank of assistant to the president, just as Hadley does, and report directly to Bush, while also holding the title of deputy national security adviser. The new war czar will consult with generals and diplomats in the field each morning, then join Hadley in briefing Bush and spend the rest of the day talking with officials such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to resolve any issues. "The goal is same-day service -- identify the problem in the morning and fix it in the afternoon," Hadley said. Unlike an earlier version of the plan, Hadley said, Lute will oversee both policy and implementation, assisted by a staff of 11. The position does not require congressional approval, but Lute will need Senate approval because he is an active-duty officer. Hadley said he is not concerned that a three-star officer will be directing superiors. "The issue is not the number of stars," he said. Some Iraq experts were encouraged. "This is an unusually talented guy," said Ellen Laipson, president of the Henry L. Stimson Center, who returned from Iraq yesterday. "He's one of those intellectual soldiers who also exudes strong personal leadership qualities." |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #13 If Bumble Boy Bush thinks anyone but him is going to shoulder the blame for the ME morass, he's badly mistaken. And he talks about how history will show him in a brighter light. Not. It's going to show him handling this worse than Lyndon Johnson handled (mismanaged)Vietnam. We know how he ended up. Drinking himself to death as he let his Cadillac go round & round in circles on his ranch. Bush has a ranch in Texas. He's a former alky. He just needs a Caddy. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-16 20:08 |
| #12 Greg, give him a chance, he intends to sneek amnesty through the Senate in the dark of night. Bush is a political retard. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-05-16 19:26 |
| #11 It's a Presidential attempt to form a non-Republican Federal Democracy by creating a level of Ministerial posts just below the Presidency that actually handle everything and pass information that the President "needs to know" to him "when he needs to know it". IOW it's an attempt by a lameduck President to distance himself from the responsibilities of the office and to defer responsibility to others. I am so ashamed of this Presidents' recent policies and decisions to not stop the Buck at his desk I cannot even believe it myself. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-05-16 18:16 |
| #10 "Trust the Force, Lute" |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-05-16 17:22 |
| #9 Are we declaring war on War? |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-05-16 15:39 |
| #8 The "czar" title was trumped up by the media. The operative word is "coordinate" as it reads..."Lute will coordinate"... |
| Posted by: Captain America 2007-05-16 15:20 |
| #7 And ...why hire a Russian? |
| Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073 2007-05-16 11:16 |
| #6 I don't get the war czar. Seems like another layer of bureaucracy to gum things up. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-16 10:46 |
| #5 Where did we get all these 4 star generals ? What the hell did they ever do ? I trust the stars are pewter, and not silver. You know, the easy-to-come-by cheap stars you can get at Walmart. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-05-16 10:27 |
| #4 There's this expression with day & dollar. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-05-16 10:04 |
| #3 George Marshall did very well. You don't need a wire diagram. You don't need fancy titles or office space. You just need a Prez who turns to the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Head of the CIA, and point to the officer and say "He's in charge. You work for him. Do what he says. And if you don't, you're fired." Clean, simple, to the point. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-05-16 09:07 |
| #2 The Commander in Chief used to be able to help plan to fight and win wars too. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-05-16 07:52 |
| #1 Could have swore this used to called the "Commander in Chief". |
| Posted by: ed 2007-05-16 07:35 |