Who will take the bame for Iraq? She's 36 years old and "cheerful"

[JHB]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/washington/12osullivan.html?ei=5090&en=50471b1437abd3f8&ex=1307764800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

June 12, 2006
Adviser Has President's Ear as She Keeps Eyes on Iraq
By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, June 11 — At the end of each day, President Bush gets a three-to-four-page memo from the National Security Council staff about developments over the previous 24 hours in Iraq. The document, said to be written in the crisp, compelling style that the president prefers, can cover a range of issues — the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, new nominees for cabinet posts or the progress, or lack of it, in ending the three-year insurgency.

The person responsible for the memo is someone who is largely unknown outside the administration, but who colleagues say is instrumental in shaping Mr. Bush's views: Meghan L. O'Sullivan, the 36-year-old deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan, and the most senior official working on those nations full time at the White House.
****
Ms. O'Sullivan, who was crisp and wary in a recent interview in her office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, would say little more about her conversations with Mr. Bush. But people who have seen her brief the president say she has been succinct, unpretentious, full of facts and cheerful — exactly what Mr. Bush likes. Colleagues say that Ms. O'Sullivan holds to the view, reflected in the president's public statements, that rebuilding Iraq's civic institutions and persuading Iraqis to accommodate one another politically is a way out of the sectarian violence. She is more optimistic about the political process than others in the administration.

In Baghdad, Ms. O'Sullivan is remembered as a pragmatic centrist who had a guarded but tenacious confidence that the United States would eventually prevail. "That doesn't mean that I don't see all the difficulties there on a daily basis," she said. The question that even her supporters raise is whether she is too close to see the landscape of problems. "I do think she is so into this that she sees it from the inside out," Mr. Diamond said. He added, "And I'm not sure she adequately grasps all the mistakes we have made." In Baghdad, American Embassy officials sometimes use the phrase, "Let's not Meghan-ize the problem," meaning, let's not try to impose order on the chaos of Iraq with one of her five-point presentations. Her supporters counter that she is more aware of the reality on the ground than many others in the administration.
-----full article at link-----
If you're not signed up for the times, check Needlenose's take:
http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/3045?PHPSESSID=b4cdedfbe9a05c68e6fc3d4bd96a9ee7

How's that for a ringing endorsement of the (mal)Administration: Didn't Clinton get all kinds of flak for depending on people about her age as their experts (thus the Bushite "adults are in charge" sneer)? :shrug: And she's "more aware of the reality on the ground than many others in the administration"? :rofl:

Guess who'll be made to walk the plank the next time Pres. Dick and pals decide it's time to lay the blame on another rank & file...

[PDJane]

1. Lord and Lady........

Falling on one's sword seems to be the newest dance craze in the Bush administration.........

[JHB]

2. self-kick: now that the furor-that-shall-not-be-named has died a bit...

...maybe more wsee it.

[Clark2008]

3. Her failure to see mistakes isn't as a result of her age, btw.

I'm 36 and I knew we shouldn't have gone in, once we did, we didn't listen to our commanders and finally, we needed to plan an exit strategy when we were planning the war.

This woman just sounds incompetent - and would be were she 16, 26, 36, 46, 56 or 66.