Wanted: One Sucker To Run My War. Ask For George.

It's official... the Iraq war has jumped the shark.

The news yesterday was that the White House is looking to hire a "war czar" post in the National Security Council to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and coordinate things and issue orders to different agencies to help better implement war policy.

Yes, four years in, they're finally admitting that they're in way over their head.

And--if you can believe it-- no one is racing to take the job. From the Washington Post-

...At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," said retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. "So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks,' " he said...

...All three generals who declined the job have been to varying degrees administration insiders. Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff, was one of the primary proponents of sending more troops to Iraq and presented Bush with his plan for a major force increase during an Oval Office meeting in December. The president adopted the concept in January, although he did not dispatch as many troops as Keane proposed...

In an interview yesterday, [General] Sheehan said that ... "There's the residue of the Cheney view -- 'We're going to win, al-Qaeda's there' -- that justifies anything we did," he said. "And then there's the pragmatist view -- how the hell do we get out of Dodge and survive? Unfortunately, the people with the former view are still in the positions of most influence." Sheehan said he wrote a note March 27 declining interest...

Bold added by me- even the people who cheerleaded the new policy don't want to sign up.

Unless Congress can cut through The Decider's impenetratable wall between now and this time next year (because everything will grind to a halt once the election begins), the next war czar is going to be the poor sucker who is elected as President to clean up this mess. I don't imagine he/she will be any more enthusiastic about the task than Gen. Sheehan.

[PS- The Red Cross declares that the situation in Iraq is getting worse.]