Who's willing to run this war?

The President is in trouble when three retired four-star generals turn him down for the unprecedented position of “War Czar” overseeing the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Czar also would have the power to bigfoot such administration heavyweights as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and to “task” the resources of the Pentagon and the State Department. That is bureaucratese for giving orders that have to be obeyed.

The Czar position, first reported in the Washington Post earlier this week, would report directly to the President. Creation of the job reportedly has been under consideration within the administration for a couple of months. According to the Post, the job was offered to Marine Gen. John J. “Jack” Sheehan, a former NATO commander; Air Force General Joseph Ralston, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (and gradauate of Miami University); and Army General Jack Keane, former army vice chief of staff..

So why wouldn’t such men want such a powerful command? According to Sheehan, because despite all the hype, it still wouldn’t be powerful enough. “The very fundamental issue is, they don’t know where the hell they’re going,” he told the Post. According to the story, Sheehan said that after calling around to contacts still in the administration, he determined that Vice President Dick Cheney and other war hawks still hold more power with the President than more moderate officials looking for a way out of Iraq. “So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, ‘No, thanks,’ ” according to the Post story.

The questions must be asked: Why does the Commander in Chief need a “War Czar” to exert the powers of a commander in chief? What does it tell the President when the top three people he would pick for such a job won’t touch it because they think the administration is unwilling to face the reality of the quagmire Iraq has become?

After all that, I have one more question. Why in this great democracy, do we always want to create a position with the despotic title of “Czar” when we get into trouble? War Czar, Energy Czar, Drug Czar? The real czars weren’t all that successful, were they?