Bickering Among Agencies Undermines Iraq Rebuilding

Squabbles among agencies in the Bush administration have wasted countless hours and undermined initiatives to stabilize Iraq, the Post reports. The White House wants the whole cabinet involved, but State shuns other departments' initiatives. One battle between State and Commerce, over a proposal to end food rations, became so bitter the embassy blocked Commerce officials from entering the country.
 

Commerce huffs that State is ungrateful and proprietary—even as Condoleezza Rice begs other agencies to help staff the surge. "There are too many cooks in the kitchen," says one embassy official of the food ration debacle.
(More Bush administration stories.)