Another lead from the venerable WaPo-- it seems that Paul Brinkley, a deputy undersecretary of defense, has been called a "Stalinist" by U.S. diplomats in Iraq. One has accused him of helping insurgents build better bombs. The State Department has even taken the unusual step of enlisting the CIA to dispute the validity of Brinkley's work.
His transgression? To begin reopening dozens of government-owned factories in Iraq.
Brinkley and his colleagues at the Pentagon believe that rehabilitating shuttered, state-run enterprises could reduce violence by employing tens of thousands of Iraqis. Officials at State counter that the initiative is antithetical to free-market reforms the United States should promote in Iraq.
It's been months and years since Powell and Rumsfeld were at loggerheads in this administration-- yet their legacies seem to linger on. Can't this government get its act together?
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