Colonel Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, wrote an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times on October 25, 2005. ” ‘In President Bush’s first term, some of the most important decisions about U.S. national security–including vital decisions about postwar Iraq–were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. …I believe that the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made with the full and witting support of the president and sometimes with something less. …It’s a disaster. Given the choice, I’d choose a frustrating bureaucracy over an efficient cabal every time.’ ”
– Peter Dale Scott, The Road to 9/11, Page 188