"They are loyal to their Commander In Chief."
If you'd been watching, you'd have seen Bush jump her a for violating precisely this rule.
Re-read the above sentence, and recalculate.
I don't watch TV, I read.
Condi was the last person of record who talked to Bush before the decision was made to invade Iraq.
Condi was the first person of record to talk to Bush after the decision to invade Iraq was made.
Even Condi isn't quite sure how that decision was made, but I know this. The record is incomplete. Coulda been Cheney coulda been Rummy, coulda been Dad, coulda been a S&B crony, but as tight as Bush is with Condi, my money has to be on dad.
I've been watching Condi, hell, the whole NSC, very, very closely since mid October of 2001 and you can believe whatever you need to, but the fact is that Condi cracked on Qana day and she's been limping along ethically, operationally, and internally ever since.
Ignore that fact at the cost of ignoring any other fact.
The test of any theory is in how well it predicts the future.