WHO’S WHO….Ah. My boss emails to remind me that the rampant cronyism that characterized the occupation of Iraq was first noted by none other than the Washington Monthly back in December 2003:
Simone Ledeen is serving her country. She is the daughter of Michael Ledeen, the Iran-Contra luminary, AEI scholar, and all-around capo in the neocon mafia. She’s 29, a freshly-minted M.B.A., with little to no experience in war-torn countries. But as an advisor for northern Iraq at the Ministry of Finance in Baghdad, she is, in essence, helping shape one quarter of that nation’s economy.
….The architects of the war chose card-carrying Republicans ? operatives, flacks, policy-wonks and lobbyists ? for almost every key assignment in the country. Some marquee examples include….Tom Korologos, one of the most powerful GOP lobbyists on Capitol Hill….Dan Amstutz, a Reagan administration veteran who until recently served as the president of the North American Export Grain Association….Dan Senor….Williamson Evers….Leslye Arsht….Jim Nelson….Rich Galen.
….”They are all on the campaign trail,” said another official. “They see this as a stepping stone to a better job in the next Bush administration.”….It’s also driven journalists on the ground, watching these operatives move in and out of Saddam’s marble Republican Palace, which CPA commandeered as its headquarters, to joke: “They don’t call it the Republican Palace for nothing.”
It’s probably time for a “Where Are They Now?” followup, don’t you think? But only if you have a strong stomach.
