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Sunday, September 17, 2006

I'd like to see how the Bush worshippers spin this one
Posted by Jill | 9:22 AM
There are some things that not even the most avid Bush-worshipper can spin with any credibility:

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade.

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

Adapted from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, copyright Knopf 2006



This is OUR tax dollars that were squandered on crony jobs for Bush loyalists -- and this isn't even "Brownie"; this is conducting foreign policy based on Worship of the King rather than on appropriateness for the job.

And we wonder why Iraq is FUBAR?

Imagine of Bill Clinton had invaded Iraq based on lies and then stuffed the rebuilding process with his old Arkansas buddies. You'd hear not just wingnuts, but the mainstream media and even some Democrats, screaming bloody murder. But let Bush do it, and it's crickets all around.
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