IT'S GOVERNMENT OF FAMILY CONNECTIONS, NOT MERIT

Telling Allawi in public that he would not be allowed to pardon people who had hurt American soldiers was as stupid a move as could be imagined in the Arab shame/honor system that has been their culture for thousands of years.  Allawi has now lost honor and has been shamed.  We have absolutely stupid people both in D.C. and Iraq.  The way to handle it was privately, behind closed doors, and allow Allawi to make a respectful change in direction.
 
We have very stupid people at the political end of this war.  Kerry will bring in more of the same.  I honestly think we are screwed, and we have done it to ourselves.  Whatever system we have in place that would guarantee competent people in positions of authority is not working.  Whatever methods we are using assures that only the "right" people rise to the top.
 
The Arab system of bribing your way to the top, gathering support groups seeking power, resulting in a system where every man you talk to is there because he "played the game correctly" and not because he is the best qualified, has apparently become our way too.  
 
Nobody dealing with Arabs should be ignorant of the either the Power-Challenge dialectic or the shame-honor culture, each of which goes back thousands of years.  By now we are entitled to think that everyone we have knows about these things.  I think we have blown it, and blown it because our system rewards mediocrity over merit, Ivy League connections over merit exams, and political connections over everything.   Every time you check out Google for state department experts on things you will find "famous names" among the top.  These famous "names" are those of 1950s heavy hitters, the 1960s Vietnam era people, and in some cases people whose families have been in government for three or more generations.
 
This can't be.  The only reason for this "famous families list" is that we have no meritocracy for hiring and promotion in our government agencies.  What we have is a system where nobody will have an opinion.  They must be pro-abortion and can't be pro-life; support all feminist issues and have no thoughts of their own, they must be against assault weapons in the hands of citizens, for free enterprise and labor unions, must not be anti-communist (because there is no communism any more, ho ho), appreciate diversity, be for affirmative action (quotas in the work place), and whatever other popular icon is in favor at the time of appointment or promotion.  Most especially that person must never identify the enemy as the 100 million plus Wahabi Muslim sect; that person is to be labeled a bigot and be barred from employment forever. The PC term is al Qaeda, a real safe name of perhaps 1,000 people located nowhere, but who are the "real" terrorists.
 
The result is a guy leading intel that Congress can support in a "bi-partisan" manner that will never take competence into consideration, only political views.  A candidate that both Teddy Kennedy and Tom Delay can agree on. 
 
What we have is the current situation.  Stick a fork in us.

Another POV is HERE with a wink and a nod to Allah.