Agence France-Presse,
President George W. Bush said Tuesday he has chosen a three star army general Tuesday as his pointman for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, ending a frustrating search for a “war czar.”
The move comes amid an intensifying struggle with Congress over the course of the unpopular war in Iraq, now in its fifth year, and an administration push to salvage the US mission there.
“I have chosen Lieutenant General Douglas Lute to serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bush said in a statement.
Lute will “be the full-time manager for the implementation and execution of our strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan,” Bush said, adding that the general also would manage “the interagency development policy process” for the two conflicts.
“Nothing is more important than getting Admiral (William) Fallon, General (David) Petraeus, American commanders in Afghanistan, and Ambassadors (Ryan) Crocker and (William) Wood what they need, and Douglas Lute can make sure that happens quickly and reliably,” Bush said.
Lute, who currently is serving as director of the Joint Staff, was selected after several prominent retired generals turned down offers or overtures to become the White House's “war czar.”
The choice surprised colleagues at the Pentagon who said they had heard of the nomination only shortly before news of it broke.
Some questioned how effective a three star general would be in managing a war effort from the White House amid four star military commanders and cabinet secretaries.
But others pointed out that Colin Powell was a three star general when he served as president Ronald Reagan's national security adviser in the 1980s.
Officials said Lute will be responsible for war “policy and implementation,” a broad job description that officials said means that he is expected to ride herd on the bureaucracy on behalf of the military commanders and the US ambassador in Baghdad.
“I sort of think of it as a 911-number for Petraeus and Crocker,” US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters last week.
It would be somebody “empowered by the president, who can call up and say, 'You were asked to provide this number of people with this kind of a specialty, and the president wants to know where they are,'” he said.
The military has complained bitterly that it is carrying most of the burden of the war while other government agencies do little.
Lute will serve under National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, who has said he wanted somebody who would focus full time on Iraq and Afghanistan, doing what he would do if he had the time to do it.
Hadley's National Security Council is in the midst of a major turnover with the departure of Hadley's deputy JD Crouch and Megan O'Sullivan, who was responsible for Iraq policy.
Lute, 54, has been a three star general only since September, but he has deep experience in the Middle East and was heavily involved in the planning for the current “surge” of US troops to Iraq.
Bush praised the general as “a tremendously accomplished military leader who understands war and government and knows how to get things done.”
“He has already earned the respect and trust of the officials with whom he will be working in his new role,” he said.
Lute served as operations director of the US Central Command from 2004 to September 2006, overseeing combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He ran US military operations in the Levant during last year's fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
He commanded a multi-national brigade in Kosovo in 2002, and fought with the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in the 1991 Gulf War.
He is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and has a master's degree from Harvard University.
A senior US defense official said Lute would be nominated to the White House position as a three star general, which requires confirmation by the US Senate.
The Washington Post reported last month that five retired generals had been approached about the war czar job, but none was interested.
Jack Sheehan, a retired marine general, explained in an op-ed article in the Post that he had turned the job down because the administration seemed to lack a comprehensive strategy.
“We got it right during the early days of Afghanistan — and then lost focus. We have never gotten it right in Iraq,” he said.
