Czar Wars

I am actually pretty impressed with this Lute guy. He is finally telling it like it is. He even agreed that we should start pulling troops out since the current situation is creating a cycle of dependence on US support. Sadly, he doesn't really have any clout on his own. He cannot direct the actions of the military directly but rather is there to coordinate the activities of the executive branch.

There is the possibility that with Pace leaving after September(effectively ending the Rumsfeld era) that significant changes in the chain of command could be brought to pass. If not staffing changes, certainly we can expect operational changes. The guy they are going to tap to replace Pace is Admiral Michael Mullen, Chief of US Naval Operations. As someone who served in the USN, I can say that more so than any other branch of the military the Navy is focused on coordinating efforts and excel at it. Anytime we had joint operations during my service, the Navy was directing operational and tactical for all branches involved. This is due heavily to the Navy being more of a technology driven operation than personnel driven. They are always looking to reduce dependence on people to handle military actions.

I am looking forward to changes and am actually slightly optimistic that although there will never be an ideal solution, an acceptable compromise might be on the horizon. Then again the whole fucking place might just end up in the cross hairs of a bunch of the Navy's nuclear subs. ICBM, Iraq Can Be Mastered.