The Toothless Tiger They're Calling A War Czar...

by Ralph Peters

"...This too-little-too-late appointment of a war czar is, nonetheless, an attempt to come to grips with a serious problem: The federal government is unmanageable. In war and peace.

This isn't a send-'em-all-home tirade. Most of the growth in government has come because we, the people, expect far more than our grandparents did. We also have a vastly more complex economy, along with daunting strategic responsibilities and a population topping 300 million. You couldn't run our government at Calvin Coolidge staffing levels today.

But as government has grown, an obsolete system of organizing it remained in place. The elaborate superstructure of today's federal government is simply too top-heavy for the 19th-century foundation on which it was built.

In previous wars, leaner departments cooperated with reasonable efficiency in the small town that was Washington. Our "czars" back then had the mission of getting industry organized for war, from Bernard Baruch at the War Industries Board in World War I to James F. Byrnes - nicknamed the "assistant president"- at the Office of War Mobilization in World War II.

Now it's not just industry that needs day-care supervision on the national-security playground, but our huge federal departments and agencies. We're not only not pulling together - many aren't pulling at all. (The State Department should just be disbanded and reconstructed under a drill sergeant.)

Let's hope that Gen. Lute shocks Washington with his effectiveness. At least, his office won't do any harm. The general won't be interfering in battlefield decisions. And he's a good man.

But, given the history of real czars, the question is whether this one will end up looking like Peter the Great - or Nicholas II."

The biggest real disgrace of this administration is Condi's State Department. While the democrats race around the clock to find evidence that Gonzo had something to say on the firing of those US Attorney's...and lets face it, sit back and think for a moment about the very idea that this man had anything of importance to say about anything...the slackers at State continue to make a mockery of the institution. Nanny Rice won't force men to go to Baghdad or ANY place where there's danger in the air, and all the dems need do to humiliate Bush is bring the country's attention to such cowardice.

But cowards NEVER fink on other cowards, and the dhimmi's are in their heart of hearts proud of Condi for being such a blisninny.

The "War Czar"? What a joke.