The Well-Planned Coup

Frank Bainimarama planned everything to the last detail. His troops siezed control of Fiji swiftly and efficiently, ousting an elected government he found to be corrupt, and completing a nice, textbook coup d'etat.

Oh, wait! There's one thing he forgot!

SUVA, Fiji - Fiji's coup leader ran want ads in local newspapers Saturday to fill vacant Cabinet jobs, trying to piece together a new government for the south Pacific country.

Army chief Frank Bainimarama has removed a swathe of senior civil servants, including top police officers, saying he is weeding out corruption entrenched in the administration of ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.

"Applicants must be of outstanding character and without any criminal records," the advertisements noted, asking aspirants to submit applications at military headquarters by Tuesday. "Each must not have been declared bankrupt." (AP)

Brilliant! Too bad his coup wasn't a few weeks earlier. Maybe President Bush could have run a want ad in the Post and come up with a better Defense Secretary than Robert Gates.

Help Wanted

Secretary of Defense. No experience needed; just a belief we can and must win the War against Jihad and a committment to ruthlessly pursuing that goal. Some travel required. Good benefit package. Send resume to The White House, Washington DC.

That should do the trick.

p.s.: When you do an image search for Bainimarama, it asks you if you didn't mean "bananarama." Heh!

Related Tags: War on terror, Jihad, Fiji, Gates, Bush