09.18.06

The Graduate Course in Incompetence

Posted in politics at 4:36 pm by kevin

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq

I was initially going to title this post “Incompetence 101″, but having re-read the article I’m convinced that the antics described here are more like the graduate seminar of cluelessness and malfeasance.

Why have career professionals when you can have political hacks?

Why ask about relevant experience (finance, public health, law enforcement) when you can ask about Roe v. Wade? (After all, Iraq would surely crumble if the rate of abortion exceeded infant mortality or fatalities from suicide bombings…)

To wit:

To recruit the people he wanted, O’Beirne sought résumés from the offices of Republican congressmen, conservative think tanks and GOP activists. He discarded applications from those his staff deemed ideologically suspect, even if the applicants possessed Arabic language skills or postwar rebuilding experience.

Smith said O’Beirne once pointed to a young man’s résumé and pronounced him “an ideal candidate.” His chief qualification was that he had worked for the Republican Party in Florida during the presidential election recount in 2000.

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