Interesting observation in Jim Hoagland's column today on the Global War on Extremism.
snip
In Bush's first term, bitter disputes -- based in personality clashes and a settling of old scores as much as in substance -- would have handicapped such an exercise.
But internal strife has largely subsided since the departure of Powell and his powerful deputy, Richard Armitage, who skillfully provided background information on the shortcomings of perceived enemies at the Pentagon and elsewhere to congressional and other allies. Here's an interesting coincidence: Armitage was a mentor to virtually all of the State Department personnel whose cases of mistreatment by U.N. ambassador-designate John Bolton were cited in Senate hearings last week, and Powell has pointedly declined to support Bolton. |