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| Why the new "war czar" will fail |
| 2007-05-17 |
| By Ralph Peters On paper, the appointment of three-star Gen. Douglas E. Lute as White House "war czar" - after five retired four-stars turned down the job - makes perfect sense. It's about time somebody took charge. The reality is something else: The whoppingly mislabeled "czar" will have neither the authority to force departments and agencies to do what they were supposed to do all along, nor the vital power of the purse. He'll have to rely on persuasion. In D.C., that's a joke. Lord knows, the administration needs a grown-up to make its brats do their homework, to ensure that our commanders and troops get the support they need and to look ahead instead of forever scrambling to fix yesterday's goofs. But the problem with past "czars" has been that they were handed big missions and zero clout. Despite the hoopla surrounding their appointments, they were little more than nags in the government kitchen. At most, they provided the illusion that a problem was taken seriously. I worked for the most effective "czar" of the past half-century. As director of the Office for National Drug Control Policy, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey did a remarkable job of getting the government's cats and dogs (and not a few monkeys) to work together for the common good. But the major players could blow off even McCaffrey. The general could beat our nation's deadly enemies, but not the Washington bureaucracy. (To his credit, McCaffrey never used the term "drug czar" himself; an American patriot, he found "czar" repulsive.) The fundamental issue is this: How much authority will the war czar have? If the usual pattern prevails, the feudal domains on the Potomac will nod politely when he speaks, but ignore him when their parochial interests are threatened. continued at link |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #3 Amer has, or should have, more than enuff "War Czar(s)" already - its called CENTCOM(S), the USDOD, + the NATIONAL COMMAND AUTHORITY. Dubya's only "PLAN B" is to just seal off the entire nations and vital areas of IRAQ-AFGHANISTAN while still using US-Allied mil assets to surround and intimidate Moud - a major or primary prob wid this is that the fighting power of Radical Islam is left mostly intact "as is" andor "where is" [where US milfors are NOT NOR WILL BE THANX TO NPE POLITIX]], wid high potential for "more than now". BASIC MISSION OF "WAR CZAR" > HOLD THE LINE IN ME UNTIL MOUD = RADICAL IRAN IMPLODES OR DOES SOMETHING MIL STUPID. * "Big missions ... zero clout ... little more than nags ... ilusion that a problem was taken seriously" > IOW, A PCorrect DIVERSION-PATSY, at best a POWERLESS FIGUREHEAD THAT EVERYONE WANTS TO CONTROL=DENY BUT NO ONE WANTS TO SEE SUCCEED. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-17 22:40 |
| #2 As has been said many, many times, the "buck stops at the President." |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-05-17 12:08 |
| #1 Sadly Peters is right. Anyway, "war czar" is the President's job and he needs to crack the whip over the executive branch (which includes the DoD). |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-05-17 09:53 |