posted on June 29, 2002 03:56:23 AM new
I read that in yesterday's Washington Post. However, the reason for the resignation was buried quite a few paragraphs into the article. The UK paper gets right to the point.
This is an exerpt from the story of Downing's departure from the Washington Post. It really is interesting to compare the coverage here and in foreign papers.
This excerpt from the Washington Post, as saabsister said was near the end of the article.
"Downing has been effective in debates over Iraq policy because he is a Gulf War veteran who commanded part of the Special Operations forces in the 1991 conflict. "Because of his background, he could argue his position in a way" that administration hawks who lack military experience can't in their debates with the uniformed military, said one Republican foreign policy adviser.
Some security experts speculated that Downing was spurred to leave because his plan for Iraq had been rejected by the Joint Chiefs. But others dismissed that. "This isn't about some massive policy loss on Iraq. I think he wanted to get back to Colorado," where he has a home, one national security official said.
Others argued that Downing was dismayed by the administration's halting progress on homeland security issues. It resisted creating a department of homeland security for months, for example, and then announced it would do so on short notice. "Homeland security is a fiasco, and that's probably why," said one security expert.
But the predominant view among officials and specialists who have worked with him was that Downing, a career Special Operations officer fond of talking about the need to "think like a bank robber," was uncomfortable with his limited advisory role as a White House staffer.
"He was told, and foolishly believed, that he would have co-equal status with Condi," said one Republican defense expert, referring to Rice. "He thought he would have involvement in all sorts of things that it turned out he isn't involved in. And he wasn't allowed to do the things he thought he was hired to do." Several other people in Downing's office also plan to leave the government, this person added.
With the war on terrorism occupying much of the time of President Bush and his national security Cabinet officers, added another official, there was little work left for Downing to do. "If the principals are doing terrorism all the time, by definition that means you don't have as much responsibility," he said.
Even more fundamentally, said others who know him, Downing's forceful personality and time as a four-star commander left him ill-prepared for the life of a White House staffer. As a former top general, noted one official, he was accustomed to running things on his own. "He does suffer a little bit from four-staritis," this official said.
"He's a very hard-charging, can-do guy, and the National Security Council isn't like that right now," said Francis Brooke, the Washington adviser to the Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella organization of Iraqi groups opposed to Hussein's regime. Brooke said he had worked closely with Downing before the general returned to government. Under Rice, Brooke said, the NSC "coordinates policy, and that's not Wayne's personality."
"I know he was unhappy with the bureaucracy," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department counterterrorism official. "It was generally known that he was not a happy camper for quite a while."
Johnson said a clash between Downing and Franks over how best to confront Iraq "may have been the straw that broke the camel's back."
Downing spent much of his time at the White House struggling with a variety of federal offices to create a "data fusion center" that would keep 24-hour watch and track all interagency intelligence on terrorist activities. It was widely opposed by the intelligence bureaucracy, one official said.
Downing recently prevailed, and was preparing to begin assigning staff to the new center. It now appears that that plan will be revised and the center instead will be made part of the proposed Homeland Security Department, the official said.
posted on June 29, 2002 04:50:09 PM new
And all the weeds that would germinate if they weren't smothered in newspaper. Keep 'em in the dark by giving 'em the news.
posted on June 29, 2002 04:56:58 PM new
Not to mention the ink manufacturers! What the hell are they going to do especially when the book burnings begin? INK IS JOBS!
posted on June 29, 2002 05:16:53 PM new
Yes it is a tough and dangerous job also.
I don't know how it was meant when nycyn posted, but from first hand I know....
posted on June 29, 2002 05:49:51 PM new
I can see the paper in 20 years -
At the present 5th grade reading level with lots of pictures. (probably video on electronic paper) If they have no real pics they will just computer generate them. The average person will not be able to tell reality from a generated pic.
The horoscopes.
single /gay/bi/swapper ads like California
The TV/cable/Sat. guide.
Coupons
Comics
News on one back page - simplified
posted on June 29, 2002 06:47:03 PM new
"On the other hand, democracy
may be strengthened if educational institutions do their job teaching future journalists skills of
critical thinking, interpretation, analysis, and synthesis."
Lots of luck!!!
Our current writers can't get the details right about even simple stories.
They can't tell the difference between a revolver and an automatic in a shooting - and don't want to learn the difference because guns are yucky anyway and distasteful to know about.
They can't report on scientific matters above grade school level because they can't define what a vector or an element is much less visualize a kilometer or the difference between the radiation in a microwave oven and an atomic reactor.
They can't report about foreign matters because they have no idea even what hemisphere of the globe a country is in when it is named. They don't have any idea if there are Orientals in Ceylon or Blacks in Brazil......
posted on July 1, 2002 12:24:47 PM new
In the meantime, The Sudan continues to be the #2 Al-Queda base in the world and is not targeted by the White House for retribution on Bush's "War" on Terrorism. Instead, Bush gets to use America's millitary resources to pick on the Bush Family's Pet Whipping Boy Sadaam Heusien.
