I’m reading a couple of interesting posts about the Iraq war. The first is by Greg Djerejian over at Belgravia Dispatch where he highlights conservative concerns about the war in Iraq. He draws from recent articles by Bill Kristol and Henry Kissinger and points the finger at Rumsfeld. Obsidian Wings linked to, agreeing with much of what Greg says in his analysis.

Common themes include that Rumsfeld and/or Cheney are the ones to blame in this debacle, which I get, but that somehow the President is blameless in this mess. That, quite frankly, I don’t get. I completely agree that Rumsfeld has been among the less competent in this Administration. And sure, he provides all the “really fun” quotes for us to puzzle over and snicker at. Sure, he’s supposed to know more about military needs and the details of planning a military campaign then our President. So, yeah, a lot of the problems begin with him.

But to ignore the President’s own culpability in the Iraq campaign is ridiculous. In fact, I think that much more of this should be lain at the feet of the man who makes all the decisions, not his underlings (smart as they may be). First, everyone and their brother was concerned about what came after the military campaign to topple the Iraqi government ended. The question of what happens afterwards was central to our decision not to go into Iraq in the first Gulf War. Any halfway intelligent leader should’ve asked for a detailed post-war plan.

Of course, we might expect a leader to actually, say, read a paper, too and follow the news. But, that’s apparently asking too much.

He’s ultimately in charge and has the responsibility to think through the advice given to him. Common sense should make you demand to see a post-war plan and details. Delegation is fine and good, but delegation doesn’t mean completely leaving tasks to underlings. Leaders follow up and exercise their judgement. That’s why they’re in charge

The timing of the whole war effort seems too closely timed to coincide with midterm elections. Any discussion of the failures in Iraq must consider the timing of the war and why we went when we did. This isn’t hindsight. I and many, many of the opponents of the war were concerned about the seeming inevitability of the war. Bush said repeatedly that it was a “last choice” but contemporary news reports as well as books such as Plan of Attack make it pretty clear that we were going to war before the joint resolution was passed by Congress.

Then there’s the small detail that Rumsfeld offered his own resignation only to be turned down by the President. If you really believe that Rumsfeld is incompetent or should go, the blame for that particular situation goes right to the President.

Look, I’m all for some hardy Rumsfeld bashing, but let’s not get myopic about the greater circumstances. This administration hasn’t done much of anything right on the foreign policy front and our soldiers and our taxpayers are paying for it now…