The Washington Post reports that the Bush administration is already reshuffling the administrators it put in place in Iraq, most notably Jay Garner, the overall head of the operation.
Several people involved in the process have said Garner and his staff — as well as his superiors at the Pentagon — did not properly plan for the task, from repairing damage suffered during the war to restarting government ministries and forming an Iraqi-led interim administration.
Iraqis have become increasingly frustrated with Garner’s operation, saying that his team has failed to fulfill promises to hand out emergency payments, restore basic public services, address a wave of criminal activity and involve resident Iraqis in the planning for a new government. In Baghdad, many neighborhoods still lack electricity and running water, heaps of garbage line the streets and most shops remain closed because merchants are afraid of looters.
Now here’s something interesting for you conspiracy buffs: yesterday (or Friday, I’m not sure) I heard Jay Garner on NPR. I’m not sure if it was on Diane Rehm or Morning Edition, but I can’t find evidence of the interview on the web. But he quite clearly said that the reason there is not sufficient humanitarian relief in Iraq is that there was no time to plan it – he said that “if we’d have been prepared to meet the humanitarian crisis, it would have met delaying the war, and as I’d detected, nobody was interested in that”. Sounds like another disloyal Bush appointee who must be culled.
If you heard this NPR interview, and know where he was interviewed, please let me know.
[UPDATE: Mystery solved – it was an interview with Linda Wertheimer on Weekend Edition Saturday. But she was interviewing retired colonel Sam Gardiner, NOT Jay Garner. Listen here. Lovin’ that dissent in the ranks.]
