Sorry, sorry, the Bush Administration doesn’t like the title “War Czar.” The official title of the man named to personally oversee the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan on behalf of the president is “assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan policy and implementation.” Sure, much easier than “War Czar.”
The guy’s name is Douglas Lute, and he’s a three star general — as the guy in charge of making Iraq go right, he may have the hardest job in America. My question: what does the Secretary of Defense do all day, play tiddlywinks?
Update: Looks like Lute advocated partial withdrawal in 2005, saying “We believe at some point, in order to break this dependence on the… coalition, you simply have to back off and let the Iraqis step forward… You have to undercut the perception of occupation in Iraq. It’s very difficult to do that when you have 150,000-plus, largely western, foreign troops occupying the country.” Man, the White House must have had a real hard time finding someone to take this job — they couldn’t even get someone who supports the central tenets of their war policy!
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