Romney's Kitchen Cabinet

Now that Governor Romney is emerging as the choice of conservatives it's none too soon to take a closer look at his record in respect of the war. We are told that he, like Senator McCain, supported the surge in Iraq. The former governor in some of his speeches over the summer made it a point to say the "war on terror" was "more than a bumper sticker." Back in 2006, when Mr. Romney was still governor of Massachusetts, he denied President Khatami, the ex-leader of Iran, the benefit of state troopers for his personal security detail when he spoke at Harvard.

But it's no small thing that Mr. Romney's support for the surge came only after nearly a month of hemming and hawing on the recommendations of the Baker Hamilton commission. Mr. Romney finally came around to supporting the military surge in Iraq in January last year. He did so after his campaign spokesman said the governor had consulted with Generals McCaffrey, Zinni, and Ralston. The appearance of General Zinni on this list is most troubling. Mr. Zinni, in an interview with "60 Minutes," stoked much of the phony stories involving Pentagon pressure on intelligence agencies before the Battle of Iraq.

General Zinni is not a formal adviser to Mr. Romney; his office even says the retired general offers advice to Democrats, too. But Mr. Romney gives the impression that the former commander of Central Command would be welcome in his cabinet.

In August, Mr. Romney told Portfolio, "I think if you'd had General Zinni around the table arguing, it would have made a difference. ... He'd have said if we're able to topple Saddam quickly, [we] may end up in a sectarian war." Mr. Romney also lists General Zinni's book, "The Battle for Peace," as one of seven books he recommends on his Myspace page. So it raises the risk that in Mr. Romney the Republicans would be buying in to the Powell wing of the first Bush administration, the wing that sided with official Washington and the Democrats against the policies of the 43rd president.

There is no better example of this kind of former high official than George Tenet, whom we learned was influential in making the case for the Iraq war but in 2004 did his best to fob off his own intelligence failures on the Pentagon's civilian leadership. Mr. Romney's chief counterterrorism adviser, Cofer Black, is one of Mr. Tenet's closest allies. Before September 11, 2001, Mr. Black was in charge of the CIA's counterterrorism division. In 2005, the CIA's inspector general chastised Mr. Black and recommended the agency discipline him in particular for failing to share relevant information with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar. The pair went on to become two of the 19 hijackers who attacked on September 11, 2001.

For Republicans, these are big issues for 2008. Mr. Romney has many admirable qualities. He has an independent mind of his own, and his advisers also include some, such as Elizabeth Cheney and Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who have a view of the war that is closer to President Bush's and our own. But Mr. Romney is more of a blank slate on world affairs than Senator McCain is. Mr. McCain has made his own blunders on advisers, floating the names of Secretary of State Baker and General Scowcroft as potential Mideast envoys. In the meantime, the departure of Mayor Giuliani from the presidential campaign frees up some top-notch foreign policy talent. Both Messrs. McCain and Romney will want to waste no time in taking advantage of it.