Michael Rubin writes on NRO: The situation in Iraq is deteriorating. The reasons are simple. Instead of promoting Iraqi sovereignty, Foggy Bottom has for more than a year sought to limit it. Rather than put an Iraqi face on Iraq’s liberation, Bremer’s team has worked to marginalize Iraqi voices. The “Who We Are” section of the CPA website is illustrative. Rather than promote Iraqi self-governance, the CPA dedicates more than half the space to Bremer’s biography and photograph. The State Department, CENTCOM, and CIA argument that only a strongman or benign autocrat can govern Iraq creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Opposed as I am to the concept of nation-building, I’m very open to the idea that part of the growing problems with the Iraqi people lie at the hands of the quasi-traitorous State Department and other bureaucratic agencies. But so what? If you’re not wise enough to can an undependable employee, you can’t exactly wash your hands of their incompetence – or worse – later. Who put that joker Bremer in charge anyhow? MacArthur he clearly isn’t.