The White House, four years into a war/occupation, has decided to create a war czar position to oversee the endeavors in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Peter Baker and Tom Ricks in the Wednesday WaPo. The only problem is they can't get anyone to take the bait.

"The very fundamental issue is, [the administration doesn't] know where the hell they're going," said retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. "So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks,'" he said.
...
"There's the residue of the Cheney view -- 'We're going to win, al-Qaeda's there' -- that justifies anything we did," he said. "And then there's the pragmatist view -- how the hell do we get out of Dodge and survive? Unfortunately, the people with the former view are still in the positions of most influence."

I don't get it... A chance to oversee failed policy at the command of some of the most disconnected souls in Washington! What a position...

But the problem is that this position is intended to find "someone with enough stature and confidence to deal directly with heavyweight administration figures such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates."

Them!! The moderates? They need to be dealt with? Maybe Rice, but Gates? What about Cheney? What about the hawks that got us here, continue to cite discredited information, convey flawed logic and spread their lies through the airwaves? They are to remain unchecked? Do we really need any neocon voices in this mess anymore?

"It would be definitely a good idea," said Frederick W. Kagan, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Hope they do it, and hope they do it soon. And I hope they pick the right guy. It's a real problem that we don't have a single individual back here who is really capable of coordinating the effort."

All that aside, the co-architect (alongside Fred Kagan) of the so-called "surge" was Army General Jack Keane. I'd like to suggest him...

Besides Sheehan, sources said, the White House or intermediaries have sounded out retired Army Gen. Jack Keane and retired Air Force Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, who also said they are not interested. Ralston declined to comment; Keane confirmed he declined the offer, adding: "It was discussed weeks ago."

No go Jack? Forgive me for reading tea leaves... but that can't be good.