A friend and long time reader of my blog writes..

Re: Lute
When the President 'asks', you serve. I must agree I don't see a
need for a war czar either.

Okay, nice couple of articles, but why aren't you commenting on
Wolfowitz! That stinks on toast. I really don't understand why the
guy can't just resign after being caught doing something so blatantly
STUPID and conceited. I believe he is showing disrespect for the
World Bank and embarrassing America. Why Condi would come out an
support him is beyond me. His actions were indefensible.


I agree it is hard for a serving officer to say "no"
to the president. In the theatre of my mind I can almost see and hear LBJ saying, "Son, YOUR PRESIDENT NEEDS YOU!. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!" Now there was a guy you couldn't say "No" to. But GWB? NAH!

When the situation is absolutely, positively insane, when there is an absence of direction, and no reasonable coherent policy exists, someone sure as hell had better so "No!" Once again I refer you to LTC Yingling's essay in Armed Forces Journal.

So what do we have now, a three-star giving order to four-stars (Petraeus and CENTCOM's Adm. Fallon), as well as to the State Department and all the other agencies that are supposed to make Iraq run? Isn't that why we have a CENTCOM commander and a Joint Chiefs of Staff and a SecDef and cabinet officers and a white house chief of staff,and, well, a PRESIDENT?

This whole business reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the movie "Apocalypse Now." Captain Willard comes across a night action at the Do Long bridge. There's firing and chaos everywhere. Willard asks one soldier, "Who's in command here?" and the soldier answers, "Ain't you?"

Really , what was Lt. Gen Lute thinking?

As for Wolfowitz, well, as they used to say in my old neighborhood, "Stick a fork in him , he's done!"

You say Wolfowitz should resign because he was "Stupid and conceited". That's like a traffic cop giving out tickets at the Indianapolis 500. Who in this administration ISN'T "Stupid and conceited"?

But don't let Wolfowitz's peccadillo become the equivalent of the Romans' "Bread and Circuses". Karl Rove is quite masterful at the art of distraction. They will tell you to keep your eye on what's in their right hand while they bamboozle you with their left. The real issue today is Alberto Gonzalez and the shredding of the Constitution. The real issue for the past seven years has been the way GWB has run the country.

Keep your eye on the prize!

TRM