Contest for the dunce’s cap

After thinking more about the topic of this post, from yesterday, I’ve been trying to think which individual in the Bush administration has been most culpably detrimental to the common good.
Should I choose Paul (Jerry) Bremer, for example? I note that when he was “given” the Iraq proconsulship last May, he was hailed in some quarters as some kind of a wonder-worker.
For example, the Prez himself, when announcing the appointment, called Bremer “a man of enormous experience” and “a can-do type person.” The president said Bremer “goes with the full blessings of this administration, and the full confidence of all of us … that he can get the job done.”
It was noted by some at that time that Bremer didn’t actually know very much about the Middle East (!) But Vince Cannistraro, former CIA director of counterterrorism, was quoted in this USA Today article as saying that, “His lack of knowledge about Iraq might actually help him… ” (!)
Or, moving right along here in our nominations process, we might nominate… Ricardo Sanchez, Jean Abizaid, Paul Wolfowitz, Don Rumsfeld, or… you guessed it… the big enchilada himself!
Actually, I’m thinking maybe the JWN Golden Dunce’s Cap belongs on no other head than W’s. Not just for that quote about Bremer, above. Not just for the idiotic things he keeps mouthing to the global media these days like a person who has zero clue about what’s going on– in Iraq (“the situation in Iraq has improved”), anywhere else in the world, or here in the United States.
Oh well. Tomorrow evening we get to see him do his very best to pretend he’s in charge, during the press conference. Will that performance just merely confirm the decision I am close to making, to give him my prestigious award?

8 thoughts on “Contest for the dunce’s cap”

  1. Oh, Helena, I understand why Bush is your top candidate, but for me, perhaps because of my own bias, it’s a very, very close contest between Bremer and Sanchez. Maybe my choice is also due to the fact that unlike Bush, both of them are right there on the ground every day, yet they haven’t managed to learn a thing.
    I first became aware of just what a complete ass Ricardo Sanchez is from something I saw in an article. He was questioned about the fact that the Americans were not publishing, as required under the Fourth Geneva Convention, lists of the Iraqis they arrested and detained. He replied that “because of spelling issues, the names are often imprecise”. Huh?! Spelling issues? In Iraq they cannot find anyone who is capable of spelling Iraqi names?! And, of course, Arabic spelling is sooooo complicated and impossible to figure out. My God! A below average student can spell Arabic names after just a few months of Arabic instruction (well, not Bremer, it seems).
    Then there was this gem from August: “It was a fact that I started to get multiple indicators that maybe our iron-fisted approach to the conduct of ops was beginning to alienate Iraqis. I started to get those sensings from multiple sources, all the way from the governing council down to average people.” BEGINNING to alienate Iraqis?! He JUST STARTED to get “SENSINGS”?! In AUGUST?! When I read this I didn’t know whether to laugh or throw something. And of course, as we have seen so clearly, the “iron-fisted approach” has been modified – to an iron sledge hammer approach, that is.
    Of course, Bremer’s stupidity and outrageous arrogance are far more visible than Sanchez’s, so I don’t really need to list them.
    Anyway, Helena, I guess you can’t really go wrong with any of those choices. They’re all top contenders.

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