Looking for an Out

This is too rich for actual words... but via Peter Baker and Tom Ricks at The Washington Post, we learn that

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.

Former NATO Commander Marine General John J. "Jack" Sheehan, was among those evidently offered the job and he had this to say about why he and others are spurning the White House advances;

Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. "So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks,' " he said.

Ignoring the fact that Bush, who has evidently tired of the CaC role cannot by law delegate that Contituional responsibilty we have the White House actively trying to do so. WTF!

Kurt Campbell, a Clinton administration Pentagon official who heads the Center for a New American Security, said the difficulty in finding someone to take the job shows that Bush has exhausted his ability to sign up top people to help salvage a disastrous war. "Who's sitting on the bench?" he asked. "Who is there to turn to? And who would want to take the job?"

If you're of my generation you probably remember the hippie posters that asked "What If They Started a War and No One Came?"

Well, here we are with not ONE but TWO wars that nobody wants to run. If you ask me, we might be seeing the beginning of the end. Barney is about to lift his leg and anoint his master's shoe. It's about time!

H/T to Firedoglake for the links and stuff.