Monday, September 18, 2006Imperial Farce [Ramesh Ponnuru]
(Full disclosure note: Jim OBeirne is a friend, as is his wife, my colleague Kate OBeirne.)
Rajiv Chandrasekarans front-pager in yesterdays Washington Post, about how Jim OBeirne allegedly hired Bush loyalists over experts to staff the Iraqi occupation, was a hit piece, pure and simple: thinly sourced, fantastic in parts, and propagandistic. Note, for instance, the photo accompanying the story. It shows two U.S. troops relaxing in a swimming pool in the Green Zone, where, according to the caption, many Coalition Provisional Authority officials spent their days. (In the pool?) This has nothing at all to do with Chandrasekarans thesisOBeirne, even on the reporters account, was in charge of political appointees, not the R&R of troops. But the implication is clear: OBeirne was sending these political appointees to cushy jobs in Iraq. The article is excerpted from a book titled Imperial Life in the Emerald City.
Chandrasekaran repeats some of the innuendo of earlier iterations of the Iraq-cronyism charge, notably the claim that the daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator was tapped to manage Iraqs $13 billion budget, even though she had no background in accounting. Thats a double lie: The woman in question, also a friend of mine, does have a background in accounting, and she wasnt managing the budget.
To get to the main point of the article: OBeirne wasnt in charge of staffing the Coalition Provisional Authority; he didnt have a staff of his own, let alone one that could ask crudely political questions of applicants; he didnt ask anyone he interviewed about his views on Roe v. Wade (a claim that, careful readers will see, Chandrasekaran doesnt quite tie to OBeirne); he was eager to find Arabic speakers; and he has never been deluged with job applicants who opposed the Iraq war and the Bush administration but wanted to serve in a war zone (surprise, surprise). Much of the article recapitulates the well-known rivalry between the State Department and the Pentagon (where OBeirne works), with some extra bitterness added by Fred Smith, a CPA official who was forced out. Great story otherwise!
The bloggers who have decided they believe the Posts accountsome of whom distrust the Post in generaldont know a thing about OBeirne, but are happy to accept the veracity of an account that gibes so well with all of their prejudices. Posted at 11:05 AM
You know what? This isn't meant to be political. I have no idea what you just wrote here. I posted this thread about smoking still being allowed in the "Green Zone."