Generals decline Bush offer of position of war 'czar'
 Top generals are spurning the position of war "czar" being sought by the Bush administration, The Washington Post reports.
"The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies," write Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks for the Post, "but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation."
The article reports that at least three retired generals approched by the administration have taken themselves out of consideration for the position, according to sources. The cold shoulders underscore the White House's "difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military," Baker and Ricks write.
One retired general and former NATO commander who rejected the Bush offer, Marine Gen. Jack Sheehan, is quoted as saying, "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going."
Sheehan believes "Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq," say Baker and Ricks, to whom Sheehan remarked, "Rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks.'"
The Bush administration has yet to publicly disclose its desire to create the position, the article continues, as it hopes "to find someone President Bush can anoint and announce for the post all at once."
Excerpts from the Post article, available in full at this link, follow...
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The administration's interest in the idea stems from long-standing concern over the coordination of civilian and military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the U.S. government. The Defense and State departments have long struggled over their roles and responsibilities in Iraq, with the White House often forced to referee.
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To fill such a role, the White House is searching for someone with enough stature and confidence to deal directly with heavyweight administration figures such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Besides Sheehan, sources said, the White House or intermediaries have sounded out retired Army Gen. Jack Keane and retired Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, who also said they are not interested. Ralston declined to comment; Keane confirmed he declined the offer, adding: "It was discussed weeks ago."
Kurt Campbell, a Clinton administration Pentagon official who heads the Center for a New American Security, said the difficulty in finding someone to take the job shows that Bush has exhausted his ability to sign up top people to help salvage a disastrous war. "Who's sitting on the bench?" he asked. "Who is there to turn to? And who would want to take the job?"
In an interview yesterday, Sheehan said that Hadley contacted him and they discussed the job for two weeks but that he was dubious from the start. "I've never agreed on the basis of the war, and I'm still skeptical," Sheehan said. "Not only did we not plan properly for the war, we grossly underestimated the effect of sanctions and Saddam Hussein on the Iraqi people."
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