From The American Chronicle, 11/28/05:
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=3890
NEW BROWNIES IN THE WINGS FOR THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION?
By William Fisher
Years from now, we’re likely to remember two things about Hurricane
Katrina:
The massive human suffering caused by the incredibly dysfunctional
response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, and
President Bush’s iconic kudo to FEMA’S clueless head:
"You’re doing a heckuva job, Brownie!"
The ‘Brownie’ the president was referring to was, of course, Michael
Brown, then FEMA’s hapless director.
Days after Bush’s remark, Brownie was ordered back to Washington and
later fell on his sword and resigned in disgrace (though he attempted
to defend himself before a Senate hearing and remained on the payroll
as a "consultant" for several more months).
But in Washington, there’s always a long line of mediocrities waiting
in the wings to serve their country.
And President Bush seems to have a particular knack for nominating
them.
Here are three of the more recent:
Paul Bonicelli was just appointed to oversee the democracy and
governance programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Those programs are mandated to play a central role in Bush's efforts
to democratize Iraq and the broader Middle East.
Bonicelli’s background in spreading democracy and good governance?
Well, his current post is dean of academic affairs at Patrick Henry
College in Purcellville, Virginia, whose motto is:
"For Christ and Liberation".
This ultra-fundamentalist institution requires all its students to
sign a "statement of faith" declaring that they believe "Jesus Christ,
born of a virgin, is God come in the flesh," "Jesus Christ literally
rose bodily from the dead," and "all who die outside of Christ shall
be confined in conscious torment for eternity."
Bonicelli and PHC have close ties to the Bush Administration and to
private right-wing religious groups who form such an important part of
Bush’s base.
PHC students have been chosen to serve as interns for Karl Rove and
for the White House Office of Public Liaison, and students and faculty
are frequently invited to White House and inaugural events.
In 2002, Bush named Bonicelli along with former Vatican advisor John
Klink and Janice Crouse of the ultra-conservative Concerned Women for
America, to a U.N. delegation to promote biblical values in U.S.
foreign policy -- and sparked an outcry of protest from women’s rights
advocates.
One has to wonder how Muslims will react to the news that "all who die
outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for
eternity."
Then there’s Ellen Sauerbrey, nominated to head the U.S. State
Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
The mission of the Bureau is to coordinate U.S. response to migration
problems arising from war and natural disasters, and to work with
international groups on population and reproductive-health issues.
The Bureau has a budget of more than $700 million.
Sauerbrey's qualifications?
Well, she ran Bush's 2000 presidential campaign in Maryland, and twice
ran for governor of that state.
And she served as U.S. envoy on women's issues at the United Nations,
which means advocating for Bush-administration positions on abortion,
abstinence, and reproductive health.
Those policies have been widely criticized for frustrating family
planning and failing to provide reproductive health services to
refugee women.
When asked about her qualifications, Sauerbrey told the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee that she has a big heart:
"I think most important you need to have the compassion and caring for
helping to protect vulnerable people."
No doubt.
But a little experience in refugee affairs wouldn’t hurt either.
Finally, there’s Julie Myers, nominated to head U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the largest investigative arm of the
Department of Homeland Security and the second largest Federal
investigative agency after the FBI.
ICE’s mission is to deal with all Customs and Immigration violations
occurring within the U.S., including drug shipments over a U.S. border
and the detention and deportation of all illegal aliens involved in
removal proceedings.
ICE runs the largest and most secretive prison system in the U.S. and
accounts for close to 80% of all arrests made within the FBI’s joint
terrorism task force.
It prosecutes more individuals than any other Federal agency.
Her resume?
She was a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., for two years, and for
the past four years held a variety of jobs at the White House and at
the departments of Commerce, Justice and Treasury.
At the White House, she was a special assistant to the president for
personnel issues.
No doubt also helpful was her service as chief of staff to Michael
Chertoff when he led the Justice Department's criminal division before
he became a Federal judge and later Secretary of Homeland Security.
Equally helpful was her work with independent counsel Kenneth W.
Starr.
Perhaps even more helpful:
She is the niece of now retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers,
former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
ICE is a massive bureaucracy with tens of thousands of employees and
an annual budget of close to $15 billion.
It has been widely criticized as dysfunctional.
So one might have expected a nominee with extensive experience in
management, not to mention immigration issues.
Matthew Issman, national legislative vice president of the Federal Law
Enforcement Officers Association, characterized the Myers appointment
most succinctly:
She "just doesn't pass the smell test and is another indication that
this administration created the Department of Homeland Security as
window dressing and does not care whether ICE is successful", he said,
adding, "What we need is a strong, law-enforcement leader, not another
inexperienced, well-connected lawyer with friends in the White House."
Washington is a town where the best and the brightest co-exist with
well-connected political hacks.
It defies credulity that the Bush Administration continues to shoot
itself in the foot by stubbornly choosing the latter, and thereby
setting itself up for another ‘Brownie’.
_________________________________________________________
All are card-carrying members of the Bush Benevolent Crony Society.
Harry
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