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Powell, Ashcroft, Ridge May Depart
EFLThe anticipated departures have left Washington abuzz on how the president will shape his new Cabinet. Should President Bush conclude that he must restore America's relations with the international community and balance the budget,he will likely look to advisers that closely resemble those that surrounded his father. The problem,however, is that many of those figures have been openly hostile to the Iraq war that the president defended repeatedly on the campaign trail. Not just them, but the entire Department of State and much of the CIA. While no decisions have been made, the latest speculation has the White House tapping former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson to take the job of Mr. Ashcroft. If Mr. Thompson becomes attorney general, he will be the first African American to hold the position. Governor Pataki has been mentioned to take over the Department of Homeland Security, filling the shoes of another moderate northeastern governor, Mr. Ridge. There is a strong possibility that the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, will become secretary of state once Mr. Powell leaves. Was Condi a bureaucracy-buster at Stanford? Should Ms. Rice move to Foggy Bottom, the fiercest internal competition opens up for her old job. Among those names in circulation are the deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, the man largely credited as the intellectual architect of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the undersecretary of state, John Bolton, an early candidate in 2001 for the slot of deputy secretary of state and a skeptic of international agreements with rogue states. Wolfowitz would be a nice slap in the face of the antiwar MSM. Also in the running in this scenario is senior National Security Council director, Robert Blackwill, a former ambassador to India who is credited with drafting the strategy to marginalize Ahmad Chalabi from the interim government in Baghdad. If Mr. Bush is to heed the advice of [Tony Blair]--that is, Foggy Bottom-style "realism"--Mr. Blackwill, or the deputy national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, would likely emerge as frontrunners to run the National Security Council. Posted by: someone 2004-11-04 |
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