Czar Search
Let's be clear about the significance of these refusals. Generals do not become generals by being demure. They are, as a rule, confident, opinionated, and in many cases, arrogant. Retired generals like to talk with other retired generals about how they would handle one foul-up or another if they were still in command.
In other words, if some retired generals out there had a great idea about how to solve the mess in Iraq, and if the president offered them the authority to do what they wanted to do, few of them would hesitate to step up and take charge.
The fact that Bush has found no takers suggests one of three possibilities: The generals don't have any great ideas; they don't believe they'd really be given carte blanche; or, most likely, to some degree, both.
At first, I took the snubs to mean: "Bush can't find someone willing to be the latest Iraq scapegoat." Now there's Kaplan's theory: our best military minds can't see a good way out of this mess.
If that's true, what can politicians and their inexperienced cronies hope to accomplish?
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