Well, Peter Goss has been given the ax.

Oh, sure, I know, I know. The White House and Mr. Goss are telling us that he resigned willingly. Uh, right. Mr. Goss had to go; he wasn’t enough of a patsy, apparently. Stand up to the Administration’s Bad Boys and you’re going to get your ass kicked corporate-style.

And that’s just how they do it in corporate-land — even in poorly-run corporations like the sort George Bush is used to heading up. Higher-level mucky-mucks seldom actually get the ax. They all “willingly step down.” After all, you never know in that rarified atmosphere when someone who was once below you, once a friend, is going to be above you — or, worse, in King George’s case, is going to betray you by telling the American public what’s really happening. You just don’t want to piss them off.

You have to wonder exactly what Mr. Goss said, though, when he characterized his surprise resignation as “just one of those mysteries.”

Personally, I think it’s no mystery at all. Rosa Brooks fairly clearly explained how things work with King George yesterday in her Op-Ed column for the LA Times.