Mensch tracht, un Gott lacht

Monday, March 20, 2006

Who Is Running the Store?

Back from Berlin, where I couldn't quite get Bob Kagan and some others to tell me precisely how they define vital U.S. national interests. But never mind. While gone, I read somewhere that El Presidente W wants to release the Iraqi documents about which Steve Hayes has written so much, while John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, is resisting. And so someone, anyone, please remind me: Who is the President? This recalls the episode back in the H.W. Bush Administration, when the federal government sued itself; specifically, the Departments of Agriculture and Interior sued each other over some issue. And precisely why didn't the White House simply order whatever resolution was deemed appropriate? Well, H.W. just didn't want to have to take responsibility for that decision. Maybe the apple fell right by the tree.

2 comments:

Kathy Hutchins said...

With all due respect, Dr. Zycher, I don't think legal disputes between executive branch agencies are unique to the Bush administrations. The examples I can think of off the top of my head involve ALJs rather than federal courts of appeal, but I'm not sure I see the difference between two federal agencies having a dispute adjudicated by the DC Circuit and having one federal agency appear as defendant before an ALJ with statutory authority involving another federal agency. DoD and EPA tangle this way all the time.

Hunter Baker said...

But did you get the bratwurst?!!