ABC: Republicans Only Need Apply?

[Rose Siding]

The Pentagon rejected qualified experts for reconstruction work in Iraq because they were not deemed loyal to the Republican party, according to the former chief of staff of the Washington Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Frederick Smith.

"Some people were overlooked because they didn't meet the political saliva test," Smith, now retired, told ABC News.

Smith said political appointees at the Pentagon, including a special assistant to the secretary of defense and White House liaison, James O'Beirne, led the screening.

"We needed to get the best people out there," Smith said, "not just because they were a member of the Young Republicans Club at Michigan State."
...
In his interview with ABC News, Smith, the former CPA chief of staff, says he personally saw O'Beirne favor Republican candidates over others.

"We did not send our A-team to Baghdad," Smith said, recounting how O'Beirne pushed for a candidate based on the fact that he had been involved in counting chads during the presidential election recount in Florida in 2000.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/02/republicans_onl.html

[notadmblnd]

1. When is ABC going to tell us something......

... that we don't already know?

[Benhurst]

3. Better late than never.

But not good enough. Damn the corporate media.

[Demit]

7. We might know it already, but no doubt it's news to a huge slice of the electorate

Don't we want the rest of the country to know what we do, and isn't network tv the biggest way people get their information?

[exlrrp]

15. They already told us: this is old news

This is old news, this was in the Baker Hamilton report and State of Denial. Thats not saying its not bad, just that this is a rehash. Another story the Reepublicans buried well and glossed over.
When are we going to see some traction on this outside the blogosphere?

[NovaNardis]

18. Yes...

This was something we needed to know in 2004.

God damn corporate media.

[Deja Q]

2. How do they define loyalty?

What makes loyalty?

Do they want people to be loyal?

How do they convince folks to be loyal?

[notadmblnd]

4. ...$$$$$'s

nt

[indepat]

5. Politicization of the entire federal establishment has been almost accomplished

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Want to get your blood boiling about this? A lot of details

about the hiring process are in the book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City." They hired a bunch of recent college graduates whose only qualifications were some connection with Republican politics (internships, etc.). Interviewees for jobs like setting up a stock exchange were asked whether they had voted for Bush and whether they opposed abortion.

BTW, James O'Beirne is the husband of right-wing talking head Kate O'Beirne.

[LuckyLib]

8. Seasoned veterans of State and CIA recounted their dismay at the young punks they found in Baghdad,

vetted and hired by the * admin. Frontline aired this -- reporting one recent college grad relating how he has his "team" had it together (they were former frat brothers). Jeesh! What a nightmare!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/

[DeepModem Mom]

9. And how much waste and fraud has been uncoverd? K&R

:mad:

[madame defarge]

10. In all honesty...

This is really nothing new. My father worked in security & intelligence in the late '50's - early 60's and the same thing was going on then. It may not have been a blatant & pervasive as it is today, but I think the government/Pentagon has always favored hiring people from the party in power of the executive office.

[PegDAC]

14. It was pretty much stopped

by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

[pinto]

11. And this from WaPo's Chandrasekaran, 9/17/06:

THE EMERALD CITY
Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq
Early U.S. Missteps in the Green Zone

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A01

Adapted from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, copyright Knopf 2006


After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade .

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

<more at:>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600193.html

[CBHagman]

22. Yes, to be fair, the Post had coverage of this years back.

To be fair, the media and punditry did not grab it and run; only a story here and a story there came out. But there were utterly damning stories about how young conservatives with virtually no experience in post-conflict reconstruction or other valuable work were sent to Iraq.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran has done a valuable service, and if the media and punditry had any sense of proportion, R.C.'s stories would be getting 24/7 coverage.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. If you want to know how badly this hiring practice harmed the Iraqis and wasted

reconstruction dollars, read 'Imperial Life in the Emeral City'. Both of these guys are in the book, along with lots of 'great' things done by Doug Feith.

[Lasher]

13. Hold my hand. Breathe in, breathe out.

We here at DU have known this for a very long time. Holy cow, the Heritage Foundation handled many of the applications!

But don't freak out because this is really old stuff. Thing is, it's finally finding its way further into the national discourse. This is cause for celebration, not for slashing your wrists.

It's been said before but by repeating it again more will listen. Be of good cheer my passionate fellow DU'ers.

I am very proud to be one of many here who have raising the alarm that more are now starting to heed.

[muntrv]

16. This explains "Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job."

[Divernan]

23. Bush admin. funneled a lot of donors' loser kids to mid-level FEMA jobs.

We're talking people with NO management experience or education at all, being put in mid-level management slots, where they proceeded make stupid changes for the sake of demonstrating their power, lord it over and denigrate experienced civil servants and collect $10,000-20,000 bonuses, while the real workers might get $300-500. And the only reason the non-political employees get their pissant bonuses is to justify a bonus program at all. "Hey, all employees get a bonus, not just political hacks, I mean the political hires". It's all part of the neocon plan to make federal agencies ineffective laughing stocks and thereby justify privatizing them.

[Zambero]

24. And why not?

The GOP bought and stole a presidential election on behalf of the ultimate underachieving loser kid in the history of the world. These appointees -- out-of-touch egomaniac leeches who couldn't locate their rear ends with both hands free -- are merely cast in the GWB mold. They each do a "helluva" job on the basis of their political affiliation, connections, and ideology, and not on the basis of results. This is the acid test of modern day Republican politics, nothing more, nothing less.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. Let them stay over there and get their sorry asses blown off.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. Kate O'Beirne's hubby.

A couple of scumbags.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_O'Beirne

[susu369]

20. Yep, thanks for pointing that out

says it all.

[BlueCollar]

21. sending only Republicans to Iraq

is a bad thing?

[Zambero]

26. Yes, they're not exactly putting their lives on the line for the $$$

Unlike 3,000+ American troops who never made it back alive, many more American casualties, and countless innocent Iraqi civilian lives snuffed out, these individuals in their secured areas are not driving IED laced roads on a daily basis, enduring sniper fire, or going house to house in a search for the bad guys. For their "efforts" these leeches bank infinitely more bucks than the average extended-tour GI whose life in is real danger on daily basis. And as a matter of principle, the oft-repeated practice of having vacuous Republicans wielding blank checks with absolutely no accountability would always be a bad thing, regardless of their particular location.

[IWantAChange]

25. I disagree - we did send the "A-Hole" team over to Iraq

Repuglicons beware - you are going to get crushed in '08.

[rwj]

27. I think the same thing is going on at the patent office

Look at this bio for the person who is in charge of human resources and "corporate services" at the patent office(note: the close ties to George Bush for well over 20 years) http://www.uspto.gov/biographies/bio_meadows.htm and another interesting political appointee at the patent office is Deputy Director of the Patent Office (note: the part he played in the attempted impeachment of then President Clinton) http://www.uspto.gov/biographies/bio_pinkos.htm You can view some personal thoughts of mine on this subject at this web address http://www.geocities.com/jackson_robert58/patoffice.html

[Tekla West]

28. The A Team

"We did not send our A-team to Baghdad," Smith said, recounting how O'Beirne pushed for a candidate based on the fact that he had been involved in counting chads during the presidential election recount in Florida in 2000."


Hey, that was our A team. After all, they brought democratic values to Iraq just like they did in Florida. Yikes! They make it seem like all of this was not the plan. They didn't want a stable, strong society, far from it.

[Marrak]

29. The "cluster-f**k team" got the cash in tonne bricks...

which should lead here...
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