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The Oval Office Cabal

Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, has finally spilled his guts about the war in Iraq and this administration. The Financial Times has the story, which is entitled: "Cheney Cabal Hijacked U.S. Foreign Policy."

Here's a long excerpt:

Decisions that send men and women to die, decisions that have the potential to send men and women to die, decisions that confront situations like natural disasters and cause needless death or cause people to suffer misery that they shouldnít have to suffer, domestic and international decisions, should not be made in a secret way.

Thatís a very, very provocative statement, I think....But fundamental decisions about foreign policy should not be made in secret. Let me tell you the...practical reasons why itís true.

....When you cut the bureaucracy out of your decisions and then foist your decisions on us out of the blue on that bureaucracy, you canít expect that bureaucracy to carry your decision out very well and, furthermore, if youíre not prepared to stop the feuding elements in that bureaucracy, as they carry out your decision, youíre courting disaster.

....What I saw was a cabal between the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.

....And, of course, there are other names in there, Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, whom most of you probably know Tommy Franks said was stupidest blankety blank man in the world. He was. Let me testify to that. He was. Seldom in my life have I met a dumber man.

And yet, after the Secretary of State agrees to a $400 billion department, rather than a $30 billion department, having control, at least in the immediate post-war period in Iraq, this man is put in charge. Not only is he put in charge, he is given carte blanche to tell the State Department to go screw itself in a closet somewhere.

....And so itís not too difficult to make decisions in this, what I call Oval Office cabal, and decisions often that are the opposite of what you thought were made in the formal process. Now, letís get back to Dr. Rice again. For so long I said, yeah, Rich, youíre right. Rich being Under Secretary of State Richard Armitage. It is a dysfunctional process. And to myself I said, okay, put on your academic hat. Whoís causing this? Well, the national security advisor. Even if the framers didnít envision that position, even if itís not subject to confirmation by the Senate, the national security advisor should be doing a better job. Now, Iíve come to a different conclusion.

And here's some more bullet points from the story:

Condoleezza Rice, the former national security adviser and now secretary of state, was ìpart of the problemî. Instead of ensuring that Mr Bush received the best possible advice, ìshe would side with the president to build her intimacy with the presidentî.

The detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was ìa concrete exampleî of the decision-making problem, with the president and other top officials in effect giving the green light to soldiers to abuse detainees. ìYou don't have this kind of pervasive attitude out there unless you've condoned it.î

The military, particularly the army and marine corps, is overstretched and demoralised. Officers, Mr Wilkerson claimed, ìstart voting with their feet, as they did in Vietnam....and all of a sudden your military begins to unravelî.

Finally, here's the link to the actual 45 minute speech. It's riveting, and disturbing in it's interpretation.

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