No Man’s Land

Slate posts today about another shining example of accountability and responsibility in the Bush administration — The CPA’s Multiple Personality Disorder

The Coalition Provisional Authority, Proconsul Paul Bremer’s outfit, is in charge, of course. But what, bureaucratically speaking, is the CPA? A new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, posted online by the good-government folks at the Federation of American Scientists says, “It is unclear whether CPA is a federal agency.” Noting that its “organizational status is uncertain,” the report speculates that the CPA may be a part of the Pentagon (the Army cuts Bremer’s checks), it may be a stand-alone executive agency, or it may be an international institution, like NATO.

The confusion—which, the report notes, raises questions about “whether, and to what extent, CPA might be held accountable for its programs, activities, decisions, and expenditures”—stems from the White House, which hasn’t released information delineating the CPA’s authority, structure, or place in government

[…]

The confusion goes back to the CPA’s birth, which the White House doesn’t appear to have announced: References to the CPA just started showing up in government documents. The congressional researchers write, ‘[N]o explicit, unambiguous, and authoritative statement has been provided that declares how the authority was established, under what authority, and by whom.’

The report posits ‘two alternative explanations for how the CPA was established.’ One is that Bush may have created the CPA via a presidential directive. The researchers caution, ‘This document, if it exists, has not been made available to the public.’ The other explanation, suggested by the Army and others, is that the CPA was created by a U.N. Security Council resolution. However, as the congressional sleuths point out, while the resolution does recognize the United States and Britain as ‘occupying powers,’ it ‘does not establish, or authorize the creation of, a specific organization to carry out this responsibility.’

All this ambiguity can have benefits. There’s the fig-leaf factor of coursetrying to put an international veneer on a U.S. enterprise. And there’s another consequence: By not clearly defining the CPA specifically as a federal agency the report notes that the administration repeatedly refers to the CPA as an ‘entity,’ ‘group,’ and ‘activities’ but not as an ‘agency’the CPA is not subject to the government’s accountability and disclosure rules.

By the way, when exactly did the Congress of the United States close up shop, anyway? Didn’t we need a constitutional amendment or something before we could dissolve one branch of government? Just asking.

Anyway, I don’t think it is fair to say that there is no accountability for the CPA. Our Dear Leader’s words and body language are clear on this issue:

I will continue to work for a culture which says that each of us is responsible for the decisions we make in life. See, I want to help to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, just go ahead and do it, and if you’ve got a problem, blame somebody else, to a culture in which each of us understands we’re responsible for what we do.

See, if you’re a mother or a father, you’re responsible for loving your child with all your heart. That’s your responsibility. It is your most solemn and important responsibility to love your children. If you — if you’re worried about the quality of the education in the community in which you live, you’re responsible for doing something about it. Just don’t hope that Washington, D.C. solves problems. Get involved with your schools here in Miami, Florida and insist upon quality of education for each — each child. Support your teachers. If you’re in corporate America, if you’re a CEO, you’re responsible for telling the truth to your shareholders and your employees. (Applause.)

But if you’re the President of the United States you should govern with as much opacity and confusion as possible so that nobody can ever be held responsible for anything, least of all you.

But, you can go all around the country condescendingly lecturing to people who are a hundred times smarter than you (and I’m talking about elementary schoolkids) about their morals and ethics and responsibilities.

That’s what leadership is all about.