Republicans Promote Republicans, Iraq Falls into Civil War

If you read one Washington Post article this hour, make it Rajiv Chandrasekaran's "Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq".

This is journalism at it's best:

"Many of those chosen...for the Coalition Provisional Authority...lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting."

"Many of those selected because of their political fidelity spent their time trying to impose a conservative agenda on the postwar occupation, which sidetracked more important reconstruction efforts and squandered goodwill among the Iraqi people"

"One former CPA employee...wrote an e-mail to a friend describing the recruitment process: "I watched resumes of immensely talented individuals who had sought out CPA to help the country thrown in the trash because their adherence to 'the President's vision for Iraq' (a frequently heard phrase at CPA) was 'uncertain.' I saw senior civil servants from agencies like Treasury, Energy . . . and Commerce denied advisory positions in Baghdad that were instead handed to prominent RNC (Republican National Committee) contributors."

Chandrasekaran presents what should be the Democratic Party's key talking point this fall when it comes to national security issues:

President Bush and the Republican Party would rather put unqualified party loyalists in charge of stabalizing and rebuilding Iraq than hiring the best and the brightest. They put political patronage above national security. How can we possibly trust them to protect our country?