Somebody got fired!
 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86565,00.html

"Less than three weeks after the United States' reconstruction agency opened for business in the postwar chaos of Baghdad, one top U.S. official left her post, the chief administrator was preparing to leave and a new administrator arrived in the region Monday, ready to take over."

One can read into changes such as this anything wants but: Something definitely caused a very sudden change to take place. All of the Brouhaha that preceded the arrival of Garner!

"L. Paul Bremer , the new American civilian administrator of Iraq, declared he was "delighted to be here" to begin helping the country piece itself together and take on a democratic course. ....."

Bremer is in and Garner is out - also out is Barbara Bodine:

"Bremer said former U.S. ambassador Barbara Bodine, who was coordinator for central Iraq, including Baghdad, within the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, was being reassigned back to Washington by the State Department "for their own reasons"."

What is behind this change - Garner, a much ballyhooed ex-general is being replaced bya man whose background is diplomacy.

"Bremer, 61, is a former assistant to former Secretaries of State William P. Rogers and Henry Kissinger. He was ambassador-at-large for counterrorism from 1986 to 1989. He also served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.....

Bremer, a former ambassador and head of the State Department's counterterrorism office (search), "goes with the full blessing of the administration," Bush said in comments to reporters after a meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld."

What GW had to say:

"The ambassador is a person who knows how to get things done, he is a can-do person," Bush said. "He shares the value that most Americans have, the deep desire to have an orderly and free society in Iraq."

As much as I miss the way the thread used to look, I can get used to the new with-words format.

But back to the issue. I think its great that they are using a diplomat and not a general. I also found it amusing how Barbara Bodine explained her sudden exit. It wasn't due to her poor performance so far, oh no. It was a a natural break and the right time to leave, having done the foundation work. Hmmmm. Hardly seemed worth the airflight to send her there.

I was against the pentagon being in charge of post-war iraq. It should have been handed to the state department from day 1.

what's up w/ bush's staff quitting/getting fired/

What happened was that a new regulation was passed that required one registered liberterian for every 8472 people in politics to be included - they couldn't find one so now they have to bring everyone home until three more are elected. They announced this afternoon that they now thought they would reach that magic number sometime in August of 2005. Until then everything is just on hold. Have a great night Dude.

seriously?

Seriously!

This could something to do with a Pentagon/State Department shitfight. There seems to be some big rift between those two departments at the moment.

I saw Newt Gingrich on Fox News (he's a 'political analyst' at Fox now) and he was positively frothing at the mouth over his dislike for the State Department, so I suppose there could be a party or factional element to this tussle.

Party insiders might have a better idea about all of this, though.

Diplomat in Iraq= Good.
Political infighting= Bad.
Just when I thought there might be hope after all... >_<

Personaly, I find the idea of Paul Wolfawitz running our forigen policy frightening, but the defense department has had a lot of influence over our forigen policy during the Bush administration, especialy after 9/11.

Basically Dick Cheany likes Rumsfeld's hard right-wing stance on things like North Korea and Iraq, so they shove Powell off to the side. And since Bush has no opinions of hi own and just does what his advisors say we end up with Cheany and Rumsfeld deciding things rather then Powell. For the most part at least, looks like Powell won this round. Read "Bush at War" by by Bob Woodward, its facinating who has power and who doesn't in this administration.

I think this just shows how badly the administration planned out the "day after" the war. Who would take over should have been decided before the war, and it shouldn't change. The last thing the Iraqis need is a new prcounsel every month.

I don't think anyone tells Powell how to act or think. The first time this were to happen someone would be looking for a new Secretary of State. I would almost bet you that there is no real dissention in the ranks. It would not be tolerated. You can say what you want about George Bush but he is a man of his word. He put them in positions of trust and importance - as long as they are doing their job you will hear nothing other than praise - if they do not do their job you will hear nothing but resignation.