Firing the Wrong People

Matt Yglesius on why historical comparisons don’t work for George W. Bush. Yglesius argues that even though Bush vigorously defended Rumsfeld and Cheney and Feith, men with the most visible accountability for Iraq policy, Bush has fired a few:

General Eric Shinseki, who correctly estimated that Bush’s plans for Iraq involved too few troops, was forced out. Larry Lindsey, who correctly estimated that Bush was understating the costs of the venture, was fired. Jay Garner, Iraq’s first civilian administrator, was fired for his entirely warranted skepticism about plans to bring a crash program of neoliberal privatization of the Iraqi economy.