Where's the Lute?

By Creature

The New York Times today reports on the big Iraq strategy session at the White House between the president and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All the big guns were present, well, all, except for one missing czar, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute. Here's the guest list and where's the Lute?

[...] Gen. George W. Casey Jr. of the Army, Adm. Michael G. Mullen of the Navy, Gen. T. Michael Moseley of the Air Force, and Gen. James T. Conway of the Marine Corps [...]

Vice President Dick Cheney joined the meeting on Friday, as did Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman.

Has the so-called "war czar" already been forgotten? Has the man tasked with "the power to direct the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies involved in the two conflicts" been tossed aside?

Maybe this foot-meet-mouth breaking of the most holy of holy chicken-hawk taboos had something to do with Lute's evite being lost in Tubes.

August 10, 2007 - ThinkProgress: In an interview with NPR, the White House’s "war czar" Gen. Doug Lute said that "it makes sense to certainly consider" a military draft. "I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table, but ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation’s security by one means or another."

Or, maybe Lute's absence can be explained by the fact that as early as 2005 this czar among czars advocated withdrawing troops to "undercut the perception of occupation in Iraq."

Either way Lute's absence from public view is not a new phenomenon. After a month on the job Steve Benen was already asking the "Where's the Lute?" question and concluded: "I hope he emerges soon. If this keeps up, we may want to consider putting his face on milk-cartons."

I'm thinking we are beyond the milk-carton stage and ready for an all out Amber Alert.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)