I have to admit that after watching Meghan O'Sullivan on the 05/02/08 Charlie Rose, I've become instantly infatuated.
That being said, I have serious reservations with her work the last four years.
According to her Wikipedia Entry:
She served in the Office of Policy Planning at the State Department, where she assisted Colin Powell in developing the smart sanctions policy proposal; as an assistant to Paul Bremer in the Coalition Provisional Authority subsequent to the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and as Senior Director for Iraq at the National Security Council. O'Sullivan [sic] last position at the White House was as the Special Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan.
During her time in Iraq, O'Sullivan was involved with many key decisions on the political front, including helping negotiate the early transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis and assisting the Iraqis in writing their interim constitution. She is remembered for driving herself around Baghdad to meet with Iraqis, and endured some harrowing experiences while in Iraq, including escaping from a terrorist attack by scaling a building ledge ten stories up. In Washington, several policy insiders have credited her with being one of the original architects of the "surge" strategy that led President Bush to send more troops to Iraq in 2007.From The Washington Post, 03/04/2007
Her resignation was announced April 2, 2007, and took effect late last spring.
Critics, however, have questioned whether O'Sullivan was too young for such a challenge and whether the former Brookings Institution scholar with a master's degree and doctorate from Oxford University was too steeped in theory for the job. Others said that however impressive she may be, the net result of her tenure has been a costly war and enormous turmoil for the Iraqi people.It was a good interview, she was as honest as ANY former Bush adviser has been. She admitted mistakes were made and things will take a long time to sort out. She didn't, however, accept any responsibility of her own or directly blamed anyone in the Administration.
"The administration's policy has been a tragic failure, and she has been a central element of our policy making," said Larry Diamond, a Stanford University professor who worked for the CPA and became a tough critic of the president's handling of Iraq. But Diamond said "the majority of the blame needs to rest at the foot of the higher officials," especially Bush.
It seems as if she honestly tried, got in over her head and now regrets much of it. O'Sullivan (unlike ANYONE at her level in the Administration) talked and met with the Iraqi people suffering outside of The Green Zone. I applaud her for that much.
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