termites

Oh dear. They just keep coming out of the woodwork. No. Not bugs, unless you count the recent infestation threatening the UN Security Council.

I was thinking of the members of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. No sooner had Mr. Perle stepped down as the chair, than it was discovered Bechtel was in the running for rebuilding post war Iraq. Bechtel is where fellow Defense Policy Board member George P. Shultz sits on the board.

Now it seems there is another member of the Defense Policy Board who is also with Bechtel, Gen. (Ret.) Jack Sheehan. One of the world's largest construction firms, Bechtel built and manages the Weapons of Mass Destruction Training Program in Nevada. I thought the point of going into Iraq was to get rid of those but I digress. Wouldn't it be easier on all of us if they just disclosed their affiliations? But then again that would ruin the fun of reading the paper.

In the meantime, Defense Policy Board member Mr. Kenneth Adelman is eating his words. Appropriately so since he said a war in Iraq would be a cakewalk. Perhaps he'd like some ice cream to go with that.

And these are just some of the people advising Donald Rumsfeld who in turn is advising President George W. Bush. Based on their overall ability to judge conflict of interest, I'm not surprised their ability to judge conflict in general is misguided at best. Inept at worst. Greedy for sure.