Stupid Bush Struggles in Iraq

As the public grows increasingly disenchanted with the handling of the war in Iraq, the Bush administration is facing another tough obstacle: filling a rising number of senior-level vacancies at the Pentagon, White House, and State Department.

The Bush administration is scrambling to fill important high-level posts after at least 20 senior aides have retired or resigned from their positions in the past six months. In fact, in the last 10 days alone, the Bush administration has lost four senior officials-and more resignations are expected to follow.

While administrative turnover is a normal part of the political process, particularly as an administration nears its end, the sheer number of departures has some Washington insiders wondering if the President's increasingly unpopular war in Iraq has anything to do with the recent exodus.

With a recent AP/Ipsos poll finding about six in 10 Americans believe the United States made a mistake in going to war in Iraq, and less than a third supporting Bush's handling of the war, it is not unfathomable to think that discontent over the war may be driving some high-ranking officials to leave their posts earlier than anticipated.