A senior administration official blamed the foul-up on “munchkins,” i.e., lower-level officials who had innocently blundered. But the glitch seemed emblematic of deeper problems. Bush is said to prize discipline and discretion, yet his administration has seemed leaky and chaotic on Iraq policy. Some of the quarreling is inevitable and even healthy, but the level of recent infighting suggests divisions that could undermine American policy.
The day after the Pentagon announced the punitive policy on reconstruction, a knowledgeable source told NEWSWEEK, top officials from State, Defense and other agencies agreed not to talk publicly about the policy in order to avoid further antagonizing erstwhile American allies. But the very next day Bush, relying on bluff defiance, endorsed the ban on contracts. At a photo op after a cabinet meeting, a reporter asked Bush if such punitive steps squared with international law. “International law?” Bush answered, with an edge of sarcasm. “I better call my lawyer. He didn’t bring that up to me.”
Such swagger played well with Red State America, but it left the diplomats wringing their hands. White House aides shrugged off the president’s blurt as a case of Bush being Bush. Some administration officials argued, unconvincingly, that Bush’s hard line would actually give Baker more leverage to make a deal with foreign leaders to aid Iraq. More likely, the president’s public show of defiance will make it harder for Baker.
The divisions over Iraq policy may run deeper. In Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, the American proconsul, has privately suggested that more U.S. soldiers may be necessary (even as he has publicly hewed to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s hard-line opposition to increasing troop levels), according to Sen. John McCain. Not so, insists a top aide to Rumsfeld. Yet on a recent trip to Baghdad, Rumsfeld emphasized progress in defeating the Iraqi insurgents, while Bremer warned of escalating violence. At the White House, Robert Blackwill–a new senior national-security staffer brought in to shape political policy in Iraq–has sparred with his old friend Bremer. According to diplomatic sources, White House officials were irked with Bremer for failing to line up the backing of leading Shiite clerics for the planned transfer of power to an Iraqi government.
The squabbles between strong-willed men are not surprising. But they underscore–and may be caused by–a basic tension in American policy. The Bush administration has repeatedly declared its resolve to stay the course in Iraq. At the same time, Bush and his top advisers want to bring back the troops as soon as possible. Those goals are difficult to reconcile.
