The General is Overturned

I wondered as to why the Obama Team selected retired Marine Corps General James Jones to be the national security advisor.


At first, I thought it may be the case that none of the inner circle Obama, Biden, and H. R. Clinton had any military expertise. (Dr. Gates of the DoD, if memory serves, was a reservist in the Air Force -- but how long will he stay in the administration?) I suspected that they wanted their own "in-house" military perspective rather than being dependent upon the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


The second point in his favor was the fact that he publicly turned down a deputy national security position (with responsibility for on-going military operations) in the in the Bush Administration due to what he believed was their poor prosecution of the war in Iraq. Bush-bashing is always OK with Team Obama.


Perhaps.


The news that career diplomat Christopher Hill has been chosen to be the new Ambassador to Baghdad suggests that Jones was hired because he can be rolled.


A host of reports indicate that Jones (who coordinated this move with Clinton) informed retired Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni that he was the administration's choice to be the Ambassador. (I'm not sold on the wisdom of the former CENTCOM commander being the ambassador but I'll let that slide for now.)


However, it seems that Richard Holbrooke went behind the back of Jones and lobbied -- successfully with Secretary Clinton -- for Hill to be the new envoy.


Tellingly, Zinni had to call Jones in order to find out that the job offer was no longer on the table. While this may be a slap in the face for Zinni it certainly makes Jones look just as foolish.


In late November, when Team Obama's vetting process was thought to be a well-oiled machine, a "senior advisor" praised Jones as a "...a strong player who isn't dwarfed by any of the other personalities around the table."


Well if this incident doesn't make him look small, what does?