In rebuilding Iraq, political leanings trump ability and experience

[Dinner]

Anybody here want to feign surprise?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600193.html

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

The decision to send the loyal and the willing instead of the best and the brightest is now regarded by many people involved in the 3 1/2 -year effort to stabilize and rebuild Iraq as one of the Bush administration's gravest errors. Many of those selected because of their political fidelity spent their time trying to impose a conservative agenda on the postwar occupation, which sidetracked more important reconstruction efforts and squandered goodwill among the Iraqi people, according to many people who participated in the reconstruction effort.

The article is long but well worth the read.

[Nubclear]

Unbelievable!

[Flip McWho]

Politics hasn't changed much in the last few thousand years.

[Victor Galis]

But The Party needs loyal zampolits to oversee the glorious spread of the international democratic revolution! Surely you can not begrudge them this.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Comrade Tassadar
Unbelievable!

It may not be shocking but picking people based upon skill instead of the degree of political bootlicking is the foundation of good government. It is what seporates a good President, like Clinton, from a terrible President, like shrub.

[Proteus_MST]

Cannot say it surprises me a little bit from the Bush government

[Thue]

Interesting article.

It read like the current situation in Iraq is the fault of the administration, which seems quite incompetent.

[Dinner]

Bump so others can read the article.

[Pekka]

I don't think the current situation is the fault of the current admin, it's partially contributing though. It's rather a collection of things that creates the situation. Surely these kind of things play into it though.

We would recognize this fact if thinking with facts and not emotion.

Saddam's past still plays a role in the mess, not in a sense that he was one of the reasons of coalition invasion, however, he has been upholding the past structures of that country. It was still pretty advanced, so I just see it as a collection of things combined to one big mess. I wouldn't blame one person only, I would blame them all. I would also blame myself as a bystander. I think we are all guilty, it's just a matter of degree. Things like these surely won't help and shows that war is business to some people, and the thinking pattern is to not see who can do most good but how can we do favours to friends. This means that the focus is not on Iraqi people. One disgusting face of human nature.

[Proteus_MST]

To be honest,
everything reminds me of the situation 2 years ago,
when the Bush government appointed seats in scientific advisory panels not to people which had a certain scientific reputation, but instead but rather only to people who were loyal to the Republican party (and/or were christian fundamentalists).
They "just" did the same with the important positions in Iraq as they did for the seats in the advisory panels.