Running for cover on Iraq

[Robbien]

By Joseph Galloway
Knight Ridder Newspapers

<snip>

Rumsfeld and his key aides, meanwhile, are running for cover.

In one recent high-level meeting, Rumsfeld looked at Secretary of State Colin Powell and said, "Jerry works for you, right?" Powell looked as if he'd been struck by lightning.

Bremer and every other U.S. official in Iraq report directly to Rumsfeld and the Pentagon. Rumsfeld demanded and got complete authority over the military, over the civilian authority in charge of rebuilding the country, over the administration's $87 billion Iraq budget, over every line of every contract let. And suddenly he forgot that Bremer works for him?

That same week, Wolfowitz and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were summoned to a closed-door session of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss how the U.S. contracting system is working in Iraq. When Wolfowitz was asked a tough question about the controversies surrounding the U.S. contracting efforts in Iraq, he turned to Armitage and said: "You can answer that one, right, Rich?"

Armitage answered by noting that the Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of Defense control every American contract let in Iraq, and that the State Department has authority over none of those contracts.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/7965224.htm

comment: Powell appears to have sat there with his mouth open while his deputy tossed it right back at the thugs. Powell is way outclassed in the dogfight to come.

[4dsc]

1. Holy shit!!!

"Iraq is now a contaminated environment, and Rumsfeld and his people want out," said one senior administration official. "They can't wait for July 1, when the CPA turns into the U.S. Embassy and the whole mess they have made becomes Colin Powell's."

Powell should resign now and let these neocon's clean up this mess..

[Martin Eden]

2. C leaning up the mess

will likely be the job of John Kerry, and it's not going to be an easy one.

One of my greatest fears is that the time bomb ignited by Bush explodes on the watch of a Democrat who ends up being blamed -- and the backlash puts the neocons back in power.