04.07.08
The Bush management style
Via Froomkin’s column, from this article by Michael Abromowitz:
In the waning months of his administration, Bush has hitched his fortunes to those of his bookish four-star general, bypassing several levels of the military chain of command to give Petraeus a privileged voice in White House deliberations over Iraq, according to current and former administration officials and retired officers. In so doing, Bush’s working relationship with his field commander has taken on an intensity that is rare in the history of the nation’s wartime presidents. …
Bush’s reliance on Petraeus has made other military officials uneasy, has rankled congressional Democrats and has created friction that helped spur the departure last month of Adm. William J. “Fox” Fallon, who, while Petraeus’s boss as chief of U.S. Central Command, found his voice eclipsed on Iraq.
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Bush should rely primarily on the advice of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Not only are they General Petraeus’s superiors,” Levin said, “but they have the broad view of our national security needs, including Afghanistan, and the risks posed by stretching the force too thin.” …
…”It is part of Bush’s overall management style — to cede responsibility to a lower level and not look carefully at critical issues himself,” said Kenneth Adelman, a Reagan-era official who has parted company with such longtime friends as Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney over the war. “Originally on Iraq, it was whatever Rumsfeld wanted. Then it was whatever Jerry Bremer did,” he said, referring to the former Coalition Provisional Authority chief. “And now it is whatever Petraeus wants.”
