Feith without Works

Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's undersecretary for policy, is leaving the DoD. While my immediate response is huahhh! woohoo!, that's premature. Who knows who'll replace him. But it's hard to believe his replacement could be worse. After all, this is the ideologue who was partly responsible for the trifecta of 1) the stovepiping of unvetted CIA intelligence, 2) taking Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress at their word (contrary to cautions from the CIA), 3) ignoring detailed State Dept. post-war Iraq plans and dismissing expert opinion on nation-building for fear it might undermine the cause for war, and 4) arguing in the '80's that terrorists shouldn't be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. As Gen. Franks remarked about Feith in Woodward's Plan of Attack (p. 281), "I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day."

Good riddance.

You can find a thorough trashing of the guy here and Feith's response here.

UPDATE: Juan Cole's view of the Feith resignation: What you won't hear on, say, the nightly news.