Incompetence breeds control - Cheney and Pakistan
Are we really surprised by this?
I think the more notable portion of this article is its indication that the people currently tasked with Pakistan have very little experience in the region.
It's not like Pakistan is a big deal or anything. It's just the safe haven for Al Qaeda.
(By the way, placement of incompetence is sometimes a tactic. People in positions over their heads are far more malleable to pressure and interference on their policy and decisions.
As a different example, would a John Ashcroft have allowed the White House to walk all over his Justice Department?)
Current and past U.S. officials tell me that Pakistan policy is essentially being run from Cheney's office. The vice president, they say, is close to Musharraf and refuses to brook any U.S. criticism of him. This all fits; in recent months, I'm told, Pakistani opposition politicians visiting Washington have been ushered in to meet Cheney's aides, rather than taken to the State Department.
I think the more notable portion of this article is its indication that the people currently tasked with Pakistan have very little experience in the region.
The problem is exacerbated by a dramatic drop-off in U.S. expertise on Pakistan. Retired American officials say that, for the first time in U.S. history, nobody with serious Pakistan experience is working in the South Asia bureau of the State Department, on State's policy planning staff, on the National Security Council staff or even in Vice President Cheney's office.
It's not like Pakistan is a big deal or anything. It's just the safe haven for Al Qaeda.
(By the way, placement of incompetence is sometimes a tactic. People in positions over their heads are far more malleable to pressure and interference on their policy and decisions.
As a different example, would a John Ashcroft have allowed the White House to walk all over his Justice Department?)
posted by mikevotes at
2:03 PM
2 Comments:
It sounds like a top priority of the 2009 administration should be a heavy recruitment effort... at State, DOJ, etc. Maybe some incentive program to get back some who retired early out of disgust and humiliation.
How long will it take to rebuild American government after nearly a decade of focused and deliberate dismantlement?
By
-epm, at 2:38 PM
Frankly, if you look at the examples of the Doj, CIA, DoD, and others, that "destruction" focused mainly on those who disagreed was a goal.
It'll be tough to get people back.
By
mikevotes, at 2:40 PM
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