William Kristol:There is disarray in George W. Bush's administration

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/195vxqyk.asp

Revealing the identity of covert CIA agents is a crime under certain circumstances. But given the strict stipulations of the relevant statute, it seems unlikely that the Justice Department investigation will ever lead to a successful prosecution of the leaker or leakers. That doesn't make the political reality or the moral responsibility any less urgent. Surely the president has, as the Washington Times suggested last week, taken "too passive a stance" toward this misdeed by one or more of his employees. Surely he should do his utmost to restore the White House's reputation for honor and integrity by calling together the dozens of more-or-less "senior" administration officials and asking whoever spoke with Novak to come forward and explain themselves. Presumably the relevant officials--absent some remarkable explanation that's hard to conceive--should be fired, and their names given to the Justice Department. The president might also want to call Mrs. Wilson, who is after all a government official serving her country, and apologize for the damage done to her by his subordinate's action.

The leak controversy has revealed an administration at war with itself, a war intensified by the difficult aftermath of the war in Iraq. The situation there seems to be better than you would think if you read only the New York Times and the Washington Post, but worrying nonetheless. On Thursday, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, acknowledged that the enemy had succeeded in organizing itself in recent weeks to become "a little bit more lethal, a little bit more complex, a little bit more sophisticated, and, in some cases, a little bit more tenacious." With its submission of the $87 billion package to Congress, the administration has begun to come to grips with the problem, and seems committed to doing what needs to be done. But reports suggest that the civilian efforts on the ground in Iraq remain spotty and that the military is stretched very thin. And even more striking, as debate has raged on its $87 billion request, the administration has been virtually invisible in making its case to Congress or to the American people.

One reason for this is that the civil war in the Bush administration has become crippling. The CIA is in open revolt against the White House. The State Department and the Defense Department aren't working together at all. We are way beyond "fruitful tension" and all the other normal excuses for bureaucratic conflict. This is a situation that only the president can fix. Perhaps a serious talk with Messrs. Tenet, Powell, and Rumsfeld can do the trick, followed by strengthening the National Security Council's role in resolving intra-administration disputes. Perhaps a head or two has to roll. But the present condition is debilitating, and, given the challenges facing us in postwar Iraq, in Iran, and in North Korea, it is irresponsible to let it fester.

To govern is to choose. Only one man can make the choices necessary to get the administration back on course. President Bush has problems with his White House, his administration's execution of his policy, and its internal decision-making ability. He should fix them sooner rather than later. Time is not on his side.

He doesn't know how to fix them and nobody else can because they are so ideologically opposed to each other. Rumsfields hates Condi, Powell hates Dick Cheney, Karl Rove hated Christine Todd Whitman? There are some seroius internal disputes going on and it's going to flood out like a dam breaking soon.

:D

and finding what a mess the fox has made of the henhouse.

Allegories aside, this is what becomes of Karl Rove hijacking the presidency. As Susskind detailed last year in ESQUIRE, every decision became politically motivated. Instead of doing what was right for the country, these bozos have been doing whtever it takes to keep their right-wing base satisfied. Disaster.

Never let them run while they are president.

I saw him on C-Span the other night talking about this and I've been trying to figure out what the neocons are up to.

By pinning this entirely on Rove, they could benefit in 2 ways

A) deflect attention away from OSP and

B) destroy the biggest barrier to their total control of the mindless one. Rove is bush's Rasputin - get rid of him and their power would become greater.

If this was tagged to Cheney, Rummy, or Rice, it would be a much more serious offense because those people are cabinet-level staff who actually run departments. The political fallout would be much worse, and the legal implications would be much worse.

That was how I heard it explained somewhere in all of the web surfing and news watching that I do.

He is Senior White House Advisor and Chief Policy Advisor

So, he is a political advisor, but he is also driving policy..... Talk about a conflict of interest. And, worse, he doesn't answer to anyone. He sits over everyone, but no one watches what he is doing. And I think we have seen the value of that to the neo-cons.....

Kristol is lambasting the White House? What planet am I on?

I smell a rat as well.

up their own puppet (Bush).

:wtf:

to save his own ass ? wtf indeed.

the other fuckups.
:evilgrin:

:puke:

...for the DOD budget on top of the 87 billion. He's in a hole and digging deeper.

I heard Perle talking last night at an AEI conference on defense spending, about what a big success the Iraqi campaign was and how it was proof of efficacy of the lite army policy. He specifically said that money spent on troops has to be compared to money spent on precision targeting weapons which were more cost effective in destroying targets.

These idiots still don't get it. Destroying targets isn't the purpose of war. The purpose is achieving political objectives. If a war is unjust and illegal, fought under false pretenses, then the political objectives are lost. JDAMs destroy targets. They do not win wars. The war is now being fought on the street level. The Army has to look the conquered population in the eye not from 36,000 feet. You can drop all the technology you want to destroy targets, if you can't move among the conquered people without rancor and fear, you have accomplished nothing. Colonialism went out for good with WWII. Mr. Perle hasn't heard.

After Perle cited the Iraq war as an example of his brilliant theory questioners were not allowed to mention Iraq in their questions. Perle also ranted on and on about how defense contractors were too heavily regulated.

we will probably be hearing this from this administration regarding Iraq. With all the pollyannaish things they have been saying, it wouldn't surprise me

hesitant to criticize his side if it's called for. He's not one of those wingnuts who will argue that the sun rises in the West if that's what the powers that be insist.

The disarray in the administration all comes down to Bush's* inability to be a strong leader. There's disarray because he isn't a true leader but rather a figurehead and an inept one at that.

I suspect more and more Republicans are getting pissed off because with 9-11 and Afghanistan they had everything going for them. They've thrown it away with arrogance and ineptitude.

Note the sneaky little meta-messages in the text,like:

But given the strict stipulations of the relevant statute, it seems unlikely that the Justice Department investigation will ever lead to a successful prosecution of the leaker or leakers.

and

The situation there {in Iraq} seems to be better than you would think if you read only the New York Times and the Washington Post, but worrying nonetheless.

and

With its submission of the $87 billion package to Congress, the administration has begun to come to grips with the problem, and seems committed to doing what needs to be done.

In the midst of a bit of fluff are embedded the notions that 1) the leak is no big deal; 2) Iraq is working out pretty well, and 3) everything is basically on track.

In other words, this is straight PNAC propaganda disguised as an article critical of the White House.