Top Us Generals Reject War Tsar Role for Iraq and Afghanistan

Three retired generals approached by the White House about a new high-profile post overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and reporting directly to the president have rejected the proposed post, leaving the administration struggling to find anyone of stature willing to take it on.

One of the four-star generals said he declined because of the chaotic way the war was being run and because Dick Cheney, the vice-president and the leading hawk in the Bush administration, retained more influence than pragmatists looking for a way out.

The deputy White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, confirmed yesterday that George Bush was considering restructuring the administration to create a new post, dubbed the war tsar by US media. It would involve co-ordinating the work of the defence, state and other departments at what she described as a critical stage in the wars. One of the retired generals approached, Marine General John Sheehan, told the Washington Post: "The very fundamental issue is they don't know where the hell they're going."

The unwillingness of the generals to take the job undermines recent attempts by the Bush administration to put a positive spin on the Iraq war. Mr Bush has claimed repeatedly over the past few weeks that there are signs his strategy of pouring extra US troops into Baghdad and neighbouring Anbar province is working.

The proposal to create the job comes after the departure of Meghan O'Sullivan, the 37-year-old who had the top national security council job on Iraq and Afghanistan. She was responsible for policy but had no power to implement it. The proposed war tsar would have the power to issue orders, and would be answerable directly to the president and his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the national security council, said the White House had sought advice from a number of people about the job but insisted it had not been offered to anyone. "The White House is looking into creating a higher profile position that would have the single, full-time focus on implementing and executing the recently completed strategic reviews for both Iraq and Afghanistan."

Gen Sheehan said Mr Cheney and his allies "are still in the positions of most influence" in spite of two leading pragmatists, the defence secretary, Robert Gates, and the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, winning support in the past four months for a diplomatic approach. After two weeks of discussing the job with Mr Hadley, Gen Sheehan rejected it: "So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks.'"

Mr Cheney last week reiterated claims of links between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein's Iraq in spite of newly released US intelligence assessments saying there had been no evidence. Mr Cheney, unlike Mr Gates and Ms Rice, also favours air strikes against Iran's nuclear sites.

The US continued to put pressure on Iran yesterday. Major-General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, in Baghdad yesterday repeated claims that Tehran was supplying Iraqi insurgents with explosive devices used in ambushes on US and British troops but also claimed Iran was training insurgents to use the explosives. He said the information had been gleaned from interrogation of detainees as recently as this month, some of whom said they had been in Iranian training camps. "We know that they [the explosive devices] are being in fact manufactured and smuggled into this country, and we know that training does go on in Iran for people to learn how to assemble them and how to employ them," he said.