{"id":220,"date":"2007-01-05T11:50:35","date_gmt":"2007-01-05T16:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=220"},"modified":"2007-02-27T22:02:15","modified_gmt":"2007-02-28T03:02:15","slug":"cheney-white-hawk-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=220","title":{"rendered":"Cheney: White Hawk Down?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta http-equiv=\"Content-Language\" content=\"en-us\" \/> <meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=windows-1252\" \/><title>Bush<\/title>Bush&#8217;s personnel shuffles provide some interesting clues about new power  dynamics in Washington, but I think it remains too early to predict a clear,  uncontested direction for US foreign policy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheney Defeat: Negroponte is Not Eric Edelman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Negroponte is taking the <a href=\"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/?p=219\">deputy job at Foggy Bottom<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0  One precarious but potentially interesting way to understand the meaning of the  Negroponte shift is to ask who <em>didn&#8217;t<\/em> get the deputy job.\u00c2\u00a0 Back in  2004, Al Kamen at the <em>Washington Post<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A29741-2004Dec2.html\"> spread the rumor<\/a> that Cheney wanted to put his National Security deputy Eric  Edelman in the number two slot:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The latest name du jour for deputy secretary of state is Eric S. Edelman,  \tnow ambassador to Turkey, who is seen as someone &#8212; perhaps the only one on  \tthe planet &#8212; who can comfortably straddle all the relevant political  \tworlds. He&#8217;s a career foreign service officer, a former ambassador to  \tFinland who also worked for then-Secretary of State George P. Shultz and for  \tClinton Ambassador-at-Large Strobe Talbott.<\/p>\n<p>But he also worked for Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney from 1990 to 1993  \tand for Vice President Cheney from 2001 to 2003 and with Secretary of  \tState-designate Condoleezza Rice frequently when he represented Cheney at  \ttop-level meetings.\u00c2\u00a0 Edelman was sworn in to his current job by, of  \tcourse, Cheney.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Helene Cooper at the <em>New York Times<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2006\/10\/28\/world\/28zelikow.html?ei=5088&#038;en=998202afa0ac36b8&#038;ex=1319688000&#038;partner=rssnyt&#038;emc=rss&#038;pagewanted=all\"> suggests that Cheney has wanted to get Edelman a spot at State since Rice&#8217;s  arrival<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Vice President Dick Cheney wanted her to appoint his former deputy  \tnational security adviser, Eric S. Edelman, as her political director; she  \tbalked and instead chose R. Nicholas Burns, a friend who had worked for her  \tat the security council during the administration of the first President  \tBush.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No dice.\u00c2\u00a0 Rest assured, Edelman <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/publication\/9342\/\">found a home at the Pentagon<\/a>  where he replaced Douglas Feith as the number three civilian.\u00c2\u00a0 Gates has  made no move to dump Edelman.<\/p>\n<p>Edelman&#8217;s &#8220;failure&#8221; to get the nod from Rice surely seems to mark a loss for  Cheney.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheney Defeat: Khalilzad is Not Victoria Nulan<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/International\/IraqCoverage\/story?id=2771136\"> News reports suggest<\/a> that Zalmay Khalilzad will replace John Bolton as US  ambassador to the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/01\/02\/AR2007010201152.html?nav=rss_politics\/fedpage\"> Al Kamen&#8217;s rumor mill<\/a> had spread the word that Victoria Nuland was a leading  candidate for that post.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>At the United Nations, where there is no U.S. ambassador, idle chatterers  \tare talking about <strong>Victoria Nuland<\/strong>, now ambassador to NATO, as a  \tpossible choice to succeed John R. Bolton. Nuland, who is a career Foreign  \tService officer and is <strong>married to Robert Kagan<\/strong>, a contributor to the  \tWashington Post op-ed page, was <strong>top foreign policy adviser to Vice  \tPresident Cheney<\/strong> and before that an aide to Clinton confidante Strobe  \tTalbott when he was deputy secretary of state. Well, the bases can&#8217;t get  \tmore covered than that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If Kamen&#8217;s idle chatter means anything, then the Khalilzad appointment might  also be coded as a loss for Cheney.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheney Defeat: Ryan Crocker is Not&#8230; A Neocon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Word of Khalilzad&#8217;s move out of Iraq has been <a href=\"http:\/\/news.independent.co.uk\/world\/middle_east\/article1961449.ece\"> rumored for some time<\/a>, as has his replacement by Ryan Crocker.<\/p>\n<p>When Crocker was appointed to the Coalition Provisional Authority back in  2002, the <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.meed.com\/\">Middle East Economic  Digest<\/a> (\u00e2\u20ac\u009dRevealed\u00e2\u20ac\u201cThe Seven Men Who Will Run Iraq,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d June 6, 2003) described  Crocker as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A career US foreign service official and Arabist.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Right Zionist Michael Rubin had this to say about Crocker in <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/rubin\/rubin200405030836.asp\"> May 2004<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Of the first 18 senior advisers deployed to Baghdad, none were from the  \tDefense Department; perhaps half were State Department bureau of Near  \tEastern affairs ambassadors or policy-planning staff members\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<br \/>\nDeputy Assistant Secretary of State Ryan Crocker became both Garner and  \tBremer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s governance director. He handpicked the political team, staffing it  \talmost exclusively with career Near Eastern Affairs diplomats and members of  \tthe Policy Planning Staff.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Back in 2003, Crocker had been rumored to be the leading candidate to serve  as US Ambassador to Iraq. This brought howls of protest from Right Zionists. In  an article entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.townhall.com\/columnists\/JoelMowbray\/2003\/04\/07\/state_department_giving_baghdad_to_house_of_saud\">State  Department Giving Baghdad to House of Saud?<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Joel Mowbray had nothing kind  to say about Crocker:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>State is already placing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dor attempting to place\u00e2\u20ac\u201dpro-Saudi individuals in  \timportant positions in a post-Saddam Iraq:\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 State\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top pick for ambassador  \tto the post-Saddam Iraq is Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near  \tEastern Affairs Ryan Crocker\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Crocker will undoubtedly run into opposition  \tfrom the White House, where the President\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vision of a democratic Iraq is  \tdiametrically opposed to Crocker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s view of the Arab world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are no public signs of tension between Crocker and Cheney, nor does it  seem that Cheney allies ever publicly floated an alternative.\u00c2\u00a0  Nevertheless, it is probably worth noting: Crocker is no friend of Cheney&#8217;s  Neocons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Neocons: Did Petraeus Betray Us?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lieutenant General David Petraeus <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/Iraq\/Story\/0,,1983598,00.html?gusrc=rss&#038;feed=1\"> has been tapped<\/a> to serve as the top US commander in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Petraeus is going to be very popular with lots of folks, but not Neocons and  counterinsurgency hawks.<\/p>\n<p>Right Zionist Michael Rubin has <a href=\"http:\/\/corner.nationalreview.com\/post\/?q=ZmUxMjI5N2E1NzJjZTI4MTIzMDI3ZThjZGYwOWVmZDQ=\"> concerns about Petraeus<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Petraeus is highly-respected and media-savvy. However, his record is  \tuncertain. While it is be important to win the support of the local  \tpopulation, it is also important to differentiate between what the local  \tpopulation wants, and what the squeaky wheels demand. Empowering extremists  \tis not a good strategy. <strong>By reintegrating Islamists and Baathists into  \tsensitive positions in Mosul, Petraeus bought short-term stability to his  \tarea of operation at the expense of long-term security<\/strong>. He <strong>also  \tchampioned outreach to Syria<\/strong>, at one point bragging to a visiting  \tdelegation about the increase of cross-border trade. Such trust backfired.  \tThat said, his work getting the Iraqi army training program off-the-ground  \twas impressive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ralph Peters at the <em>New York Post<\/em> offers up some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypost.com\/seven\/01052007\/postopinion\/opedcolumnists\/king_david_returns_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm?page=0\"> similar criticism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Regaining control of Baghdad &#8211; after we threw it away &#8211; will require the  \tdefiant use of force. Negotiations won&#8217;t do it. Cultural awareness isn&#8217;t  \tgoing to turn this situation around (we need to stop pandering to our  \tenemies and defeat them, thanks). We insist it&#8217;s all about politics and try  \tto placate everybody, while terrorists, insurgents and militias slaughter  \tthe innocent in the name of their god and their tribe&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>In my contacts with Petraeus, we&#8217;ve sometimes agreed and sometimes  \targued. But we <strong>diverged profoundly on one point<\/strong>: The <strong> \tcounterinsurgency doctrine<\/strong> produced under his direction remains far too  \tmired in failed 20th-century models. <strong>Winning hearts and minds<\/strong> sounds  \tgreat, but it&#8217;s useless when those hearts and minds turn up dead the next  \tmorning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Cheney Down for the Count?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So, if all of this &#8220;personnel politics&#8221; runs against the grain of Cheney&#8217;s  agenda, does that mean the Vice President has lost control of the ship of state?<\/p>\n<p>I wouldn&#8217;t bet on it.<\/p>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BushBush&#8217;s personnel shuffles provide some interesting clues about new power dynamics in Washington, but I think it remains too early to predict a clear, uncontested direction for US foreign policy. Cheney Defeat: Negroponte is Not Eric Edelman Negroponte is taking the deputy job at Foggy Bottom.\u00c2\u00a0 One precarious but potentially interesting way to understand the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/profcutler.com\/wordpress_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}