Irked Prez Moves to Redo Iraq Team (Interesting Leaks: NY Daily News)

[VolcanoJen]

This story further explores the rift between the Pentagon, State and National Security at the White House. David Gergen was just on CNN, talking about how important this story is. It's written by Thomas DeFrank, who Gergen said is one of Washington's best and most respected reporters, and he insists this story is going to get a lot of attention. He also says that this story will "rattle the cages" of the White House, and that they'll be very upset about it, as it opens up a "veil to a snakepit," in Gergen's words.

The article reports that Bush sources have complained to the author (DeFrank) about Rumsfeld and Powell, in particular:

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/125528p-112485c.html

Excerpt:

Much of Bush's disappointment is directed at Rumsfeld, who is widely seen within the administration to have been more adept at waging war than peace in Iraq.

"The President feels let down," one well-placed source told The News. "He feels as if Rumsfeld was unwilling to come and get help and thinks his inability to trust anyone other than his immediate subordinates created a serious, ongoing problem in both Afghanistan and Iraq."

<snip>

Powell has basically absented himself from this situation because he wanted Rumsfeld to fail - and believe me, the President's unhappy about that, too."

<snip>

Though Bush is aware that some of his senior advisers believe Rice has failed to control the warfare between Rumsfeld and Powell, there's no evidence Bush is upset with her. Rice has the closest personal relationship of any staffer with Bush - who has told friends for more than a year that he intends to appoint her the next secretary of state.