Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Bureaucratic Delays

Yesterday's news:
Despite his stated desire to close the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, President Bush has decided not to do so, and never considered proposals drafted in the State Department and the Pentagon that outlined options for transferring the detainees elsewhere, according to senior administration officials. ( Steven Lee Myers, NYT, 20 October 2008)
Of course one always has the option to disbelieve such senior administrators, known throughout the world for their ability to misinform.

However, I'd be the first to admit to some radical thinking coming out of the Pentagon, too scary for workaday civil service types to wanna have to deal with.
But Mr. Bush adopted the view of his most hawkish advisers that closing Guantánamo would involve too many legal and political risks to be acceptable, now or any time soon, the officials said.
The down side of being president is everyone gets to speak for you, once named to the team.

People come out of the woodwork, "serving the president", sometimes with the most amazingly twisted views (thinking of G. Gordon Liddy, other yes men).