On the April 12 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News White House correspondent Wendell Goler reported that “two retired generals have turned down” the position of war czar and that one had “sa[id] he didn't need the ulcer he would be likely to develop.” But that was a small part of what retired Maj. Gen. John J. “Jack” Sheehan reportedly said. Unmentioned in Goler's report was the statement by Sheehan that he refused the job because he would have spent much of his time unsuccessfully fighting Vice President Dick Cheney and his allies who, according to Sheehan, “don't know where the hell they're going” on Iraq.

Goler also reported that while congressional Democrats and President Bush “debate” the Iraq war supplemental funding bill, “the Pentagon's feeling the pinch.” However, a March 28 Congressional Research Service (CRS) memo has stated that adequate funds are available to the Army for operations and maintenance in Iraq and Afghanistan through most of July 2007.

As Media Matters for America has noted, an April 11 Washington Post article reported that the White House “wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies.” The Post article quoted Sheehan, one of those who reportedly turned down the “war czar” position, as saying that he “never agreed on the basis of the [Iraq] war” and asserting that those currently in charge of the conflict -- people with what Sheehan reportedly called the “Cheney view” that “we're going to win” and that “al-Qaeda's there” -- “don't know where the hell they're going.” The article further reported, “Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. 'So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, ”No, thanks." ' "

After Goler asserted that “the Pentagon's feeling the pinch,” he quoted deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino, who stated, “Every day that we don't get the money is one that, as Secretary [of Defense Robert] Gates and General [Peter] Pace [chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] have said, creates problems, in terms of the training. And so, by piecemeal, you see some troops have been there for 16 months and that's what we're trying to avoid.” But, as Media Matters has noted, the assertion that the Pentagon is “feeling the pinch” because the supplemental funding bill has not been passed conflicts with a March 28 memo by the nonpartisan CRS. The memo stated that the Army has adequate funds available from the previous year's defense appropriations bill to “finance the O&M [operations and maintenance] of both its baseline and war program ... through most of July 2007.”

From the April 12 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

GOLER: But what the president's been telling Democrats is that they can't override the veto he's promised. And while the two sides debate, the Pentagon's feeling the pinch.

PERINO: Every day that we don't get the money is one that, as Secretary Gates and General Pace have said, creates problems, in terms of the training. And so, by piecemeal, you see some troops have been there for 16 months and that's what we're trying to avoid.

GOLER: Still, some freshman Democratic lawmakers feel they were sent to Washington to end the war, and they say they'll continue to push for a deadline.

SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): It is clearly not in our national interests to continue this war. That is why we are not going to give up to convince this president, as we pick off one Republican at a time in the House and Senate, to convince this president to redeploy our troops out of Iraq.

GOLER: Meanwhile, White House officials privately briefed reporters on the war czar position they're trying to fill, someone who can deal daily with the U.S. ambassador and the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, to make sure they are getting what they need, and who can lean on the president's cabinet secretaries if that's not happening.

At least two retired generals have turned down the job, one saying he didn't need the ulcer he'd be likely to develop.

[end video clip]

GOLER: An administration official says with a new commander of U.S. forces implementing a new war strategy in Iraq and a new ambassador to the country, it is a good time to create this new war czar position. The White House would like to fill the job as quickly as possible. But so far officials here haven't found a single candidate they want the president to talk to.