The first to go

Director of postwar policy for Iraq Robert Blackwill is the second official of President Bush's national security team to step down in two days.

  USA Today article

Postwar policy? I thought it was more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-p ants thing.

And who was the first to bug out? J. Cofer Black, the State Department official in charge of counterterrorism. It will probably be impossible to say who is resigning and who is being booted during any reshuffling between King Dickhead and King Dick's first and second coronations, but we can always speculate, eh?

Blackwill, whose formal title is coordinator for strategic planning on the NSC, spent months slipping in and out of Baghdad to put a U.S. stamp on a caretaker government in Iraq. The career diplomat was on the short list to become ambassador to Iraq in the spring, but Bush instead chose John Negroponte, former ambassador to the United Nations.

The White House would not comment about any impact of his departure on preparations for the Iraqi elections, scheduled in January, less than three months from now.

Speculation: booted.

Black was the boob whose analyses included that bin Laden would be captured early on, that we were winning the war on terror, and that there were only half as many people killed and injured worldwide by terrorists in the last year than there had actually been. That last one was an embarrassment to the King.

"He is leaving the department to explore new opportunities," Ereli said. "He is grateful for the honor to serve President Bush and Secretary of State Powell for two very satisfying and productive years."

Speculation: booted.