Obama is cleaning house, getting rid of 90 Pentagon employees.
Many of those targeted for pink slips were recruited by the Bush administration for their ideology rather than their qualifications, which in many cases were non-existent.
For example, according to the author of the aptly named book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, "the daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children" was tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though she "didn't have a background in accounting."
Those with the required specialist skills and the ability to speak the various Arabic languages and dialects were regularly passed over in favor of those whose opinions on topics like abortion were aligned closely with those of the Republican party –– an essential qualification if you're being employed to help rebuild the infrastructure of a war-torn country –– NOT!
In making decisions about who to keep and who to fire, it seems Obama and his new administration are taking a radical approach for Washington: considering the real-world practical qualifications of those in key posts. But the Pentagon's special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Jim O’Beirne, is crying fowl. In an email he told the fired workers to "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you."
Yep, you should feel REALLY content about that, just like the Iraqi's who you magnificently failed to help!
Many of those targeted for pink slips were recruited by the Bush administration for their ideology rather than their qualifications, which in many cases were non-existent.
For example, according to the author of the aptly named book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, "the daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children" was tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though she "didn't have a background in accounting."
Those with the required specialist skills and the ability to speak the various Arabic languages and dialects were regularly passed over in favor of those whose opinions on topics like abortion were aligned closely with those of the Republican party –– an essential qualification if you're being employed to help rebuild the infrastructure of a war-torn country –– NOT!
In making decisions about who to keep and who to fire, it seems Obama and his new administration are taking a radical approach for Washington: considering the real-world practical qualifications of those in key posts. But the Pentagon's special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Jim O’Beirne, is crying fowl. In an email he told the fired workers to "content yourself with the likelihood that it was your outstanding performance as a Bush appointee that drew the opposition's attention to you."
Yep, you should feel REALLY content about that, just like the Iraqi's who you magnificently failed to help!