| Moving the Deck Chairs |
13 October 2003
|
Bush Admits Losing Support by Creating Iraq Stabilization Group
The American government announced last week that National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice would head up the newly formed Iraq Stabilization Group, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the creation of the group was no reflection on how the Pentagon has handled the occupation. That may be, although perhaps his assertion would be more plausible had he been told about the reorganization beforehand. Still, it is a reflection of how the president has finally acknowledged that he doesn't have a united nation behind him anymore.
In any bureaucracy (in the neutral sense of the word), there is never a change in structure or duties unless external pressures require it. In the case of the American administration of Iraq, it seems that the efforts to get the country going again are having a greater effect than the media would lead one to believe. There are terror strikes against the US forces, but the schools have also opened, cell phone licenses have been awarded, and the Iraqi National Council appears to have some legitimacy in the eyes of many Iraqis. Outright failure is not the reason for the new slot on the Rice resume.
The force that caused this bureaucratic change was American public opinion. The president's support, according to just about every poll around, shows a general discontent with the handling of the occupation. Mr. Rumsfeld, who was a popular figure in time of war, has become a symbol of a policy adrift. Ms. Rice, with a somewhat lower profile, does not have the negative image of not-quite-succeeding, nor of fibbing about the Saddamite regime's weapons of mass destruction (reality may be to the contrary but it is perceptions that matter). She is a reliable member of the inner circle whose appointment appears to mean change, but it means nothing in substance will alter.
Mr. Bush has bought himself some time by altering the organizational chart, as any graduate of Harvard's MBA program can attest. For the next three months, when things go wrong, the answer will be that the new grouping is just getting itself in place. For three months after that, the group will be busy fixing things that were worse than anticipated previously, and everyone should be patient. From there, he will be insulated from the harshest criticism by re-election politics. If he should win, then he will have carte blanche to do as he will about Iraq (perhaps even let the UN in). And if he should lose, then it won't much matter what his policy team looks like.
Home