From this morning's news:

Chiefs Demoted in Pentagon Succession Line

Yeah, the secretary of the army. What does he/she know? Better to have a Rumsfeld crony at the top of the list. Another question: If your Iraq scapegoat is the intelligence services and intelligence-gathering apparatus, then why promote those people in the hierarchy?

Here's a little scorecard for the involved individuals:

Bush/Cheney intelligence guys said:

• There is WMD in Iraq.
• Everyone in Iraq will welcome us with open arms.
• Just a couple hundred thousand troops should do the trick.
• Pay no attention to any intelligence that contradicts any of the first three!

Secretaries of the armed forces said:

• Sure we can take it, but we can't hold it. Our troops are trained to kill, not police.
• We need to prepare (body armor, Jeep Kevlar) better before we invade.
• A couple hundred thousand? You're nuts. (See Colin Powell -- gone and John Shalikashvili --gone)
• The no-fly zones are working.

So...we'll go ahead and promote the first group, and demote the second. What do they know?

TVoR