[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The folly continues...and Gingrich is actually supporting this stupid idea!

What the heck is the SecDef doing????? He's already the legislatively mandated "War Czar" ever since the National Security and Defense Unification Acts of 1947.

[Victor]

War Czar? As in SecDef?

OK, is it Robert Macnamara or is it Donald Rumsfeld?

I'm confused.....

Oh wait....Rumsfeld was our War Czar, and now we have a new one!!!Yeah....

[padre35]

This has to be the largest lame brained idea that I have seen come from DC since the LBJ era, to install a “war czar” basically means that they do not know what the Sam Hill that they have been doing these past 4 years.

[Salvey]

it begs the question

Nope. Wrong use of the phrase.

[Normal4me]

It's a no brainer!

[RDTF]

The qualified candidates would much rather dodge bullets in Iraq, than to deal with the Dems and their predictable, calculated attacks designed to destroy anyone connected to this Administration.

[TomGuy]

Gingrich has joined others in suggesting that a single person report directly to Bush

Who is running the war?

The President has the Constitutional authorization. He relies on the SecDef to fulfill the 'war' functions.

Gad, Newt. We don't need another layer of bureaucracy. That is what got us The Homeland Security Department, which it nothing more than a bloated bureaucrat agency.

[dvwjr]

This is a failure of the Bush Administration. If he is not in charge of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan - then who the heck is in charge? The problem is not that no ONE is in charge (that would be President Bush) but that no one DEPARTMENT is in charge - Defense or State? Can’t have both in charge... Rumsfeld did not want to be in charge - he wanted to leave quickly. State Department wanted control but not the responsibility.

“Jointness” does not work between a ‘WAR’ Department and a ‘TALK’ Department. Bush has to pick ONE.

dvwjr

[puppypusher]

War Czar!What the hell is this?That’s what I thought the President of the United States was along with his representative to the Department of Defense,Secretary OF Defense Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This sounds like a gimmick to me so that someone else can be blamed for the screwup’s that have occurred during the Fiasco in Iraq.

The Past is Past.Let’s just win the damn war and get it over.I wish President Bush would stop fighting this war like he’s trying to avoid offending anyone. Too hell with that.Our troops deserve much better than that.

[racing fan]

This proves that Bush is an utter complete failure as President. He is the Commander in Chief!!!!!! CIC is the person in charge. Bush is a moron and the stupidest President ever in this country’s history. The Defense Department is the military.

This country is doomed. I am sure Gore and Kerry know that the President is Commander in Chief.

[I see my hands]

To: Deb Riechmann

"Now that the White House is searching for a "war czar," it begs the question of who has been coordinating U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan the past four years"

Learn what the phrase "begs the question" means you AP, via Yahoo News moron!

[snowsislander]

Now that the White House is searching for a "war czar," it begs the question of who has been coordinating U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan the past four years.

Doesn't the AP have even one competent editor? That all-too-common misuse of the "begs the question" construction should have been caught since it is right in the lead paragraph. The "begs the question" construction is properly about the logical fallacy of circular reasoning; it is at best substandard to use it to mean "invites the question".

[HardStarboard]

American business, generally among the most efficient and well run on the planet, long ago decided that solutions to problems were not to be found by inserting another level of management between the decision maker and the sales or factory floor!

The lesson is lost on D. C.!

[HardStarboard]

American business, generally among the most efficient and well run on the planet, long ago decided that solutions to problems were not to be found by inserting another level of management between the decision maker and the sales or factory floor!

The lesson is lost on D. C.!

Too bad Kelly Johnson isn't around to show them how its done!

[whd23]

How many of these stupid "Czar" positions do we now have? Will there have to be a "Czar Czar" to manage all the czars?

Looks more like a way for the president to defer his power and responsibility.

[ZULU]

They should find a necromancier, then go to Outer Mongolia and resurrect Genghis Khan.

Put him in charge of operations against terrorists and Al Quaida in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran and associated Islamic terror states.

Nothing like experience and a proven track record.

[M Kehoe]

The "War Czar" is you Mr. President.

5.56mm

[ArmstedFragg]

The war has been consistently hampered by the ongoing battles between Defense, State, and half a dozen other agencies. Anybody who can either get them all to play nice together or force the ‘empire protectors’ to take a long walk off a short pier can’t do anything but help.