The ISG and the U.S. Military Mess
This is the video version of what the Iraq Study Group means.
First, as I did on my radio show today, I want to point everyone to Recommendation
74 of the Iraq
Study Group report. Hang on to your cocktails, kiddies.
Recommendation 74: In the short term, if not enough civilians volunteer to
fill key positions in Iraq, civilian agencies must fill those positions with
directed assignments. Steps should be taken to mitigate familial or financial
hardships posed by directed assignments, including tax exclusions similar
to those authorized for U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq.
“Directed assignments”?
Sounds a lot like forced deployment to a hostile country to me. No wonder Republicans
don't want federal employees to unionize.
The Iraq Study Group also talked about that bothersome little issue of paying
for the war.
Recommendation 71: First, most of the costs of the war show up not in the
normal budget in requests for emergency supplemental appropriations. This
means that funding requests are drawn up outside the normal budget process,
are not offset by budgetary reductions elsewhere, and move quickly to the
White House with minimal scrutiny. Bypassing the normal review erods budget
discipline and accountability.Second, the executive branch presents budget requests in a confusing manner,
making it difficult for both the general public and members of Congress to
understand the request or to differentiate it from counterterrorism operations
around the world or operations in Afghanistan. Detailed analyses by budget
experts are needed to answer what should be a simple question: “How much
money is the President requesting for the war in Iraq?”
Now for the nugget of analysis that I've been harping on forever: Goldwater-Nichols
and getting the military back to having an independent channel to talk to the
president, without having to go through some anal retentive SecDef who wants
to funnel all information through his office, because he doesn't know what the hell he's doing and he has no respect for the uniformed military.
Recommendation 46: The new Secretary of Defense should make every
effort to build healthy civil-military relations, by creating an environment
in which the senior military feel free to offer independent advice not only
to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon but also to the President and the
National Security Council, as envisioned in Goldwater-Nichols.
To drive this point home, first, NBC pentagon correspondent Jim Miklashevski offers his thoughts on the
military mess we're in, which includes the importance of Goldwater-Nichols.
Secondly, amusement with Pat Buchanan, who offers some interesting thoughts on
the
military mess, as does Col. Jack Jacobs.
Lastly, if you missed it earlier, Barry McCaffrey's take is important. It
offers up yet the real disaster waiting to happen. It's at the very front end of the video.
Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, while all this bi-partisan piffle was being unveiled, we lost 10 more U.S. soldiers today, which makes 13 since Monday. How many more soldiers will die while these political pinheads are pontificating? Wait for it.
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