Analysis: Dishing up wonky intelligence, low-balling troop losses and being a `kiss-up, kick-down' bully are all good ways to get ahead
by Tim Harper, Toronto Star
excerpt:
At a series of Senate confirmation hearings since January, Democrats have huffed and puffed, accusing Bush's nominees of everything from lying to outright incompetence. But each of the president's choices has so far been confirmed.
The Iraq war may not be a resounding success, but those behind it have found it a fabulous road to career advancement.
It appears the easiest route to success in the Bush White House was to be at the centre of a war that was waged under false pretences, then mismanaged from the day Saddam's statue was toppled two years ago.
"That's a fair assessment," says Allan Lichtman, a political analyst at Washington's American University. "But it's not so much that you get promoted for messing up the war ... you get promoted if you stay with the program.
"You certainly don't get rewarded in this administration for being a voice of dissent."
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