The facts show that Condi was largely sidelined by Rumsfeld and Cheney- even to the point where, when she was NSA in a time of war she had to go through the Pentagon or the VP in order to even get a meeting with the president and had to rely on pentegon scuttlebut passed on by contacts in the military to even know what was going on in Iraq. She was marginalized, outmaneuvered and out classed by the Cheney/Rumsfeld power block. No question about it.

However, what can be said for her is that in the end she was the one that cut Rumsfeld off at the knees with the 'clear-hold-build' strategy that would eventually become 'The Surge', and cleared the way for his ultimate resignation. I would not say that this victory came from being particularly savvy or skilled, but rather being the only person in the room with a solution in hand when Bush finally had enough of the endless losses and mis-steps of the Rumsfeld team. Nor was it from having a superior plan- we only have the troops available to 'Clear-Hold-Build' in Baghdad, and so far we have not gotten the 'Build' part off the ground. Electricity and running water, for example, are still scarce in the capitol of Iraq! However, it at least had the effect of stopping the degeneration of the situation. If you are not losing, you may not be wining... but you are at least not losing.

Yeti