Shigeru Ishiba, a competent past defence minister, says he is running to stiffen Japan's resolve to take part in international peacekeeping and other operations.
A doctor who interviewed me in jail found I was not competent to help my defence lawyer, but then the judge wrote a report saying I was competent and pretended it had come from the doctor.
Obama has fielded a wide-ranging zone defence, putting trusted, competent people in positions of responsibility, giving them enough direction to keep them actively supporting each other but enough freedom for them to improvise if the ball lands in their hands.
In the first Gulf war, he was Bush's Secretary of Defence, low-key, eminently competent and in agreement with the decision not to push on to Baghdad.
The bacterium is able to survive for several months in immune-competent sheep by modifying important cellular and humoral defence mechanisms.
While Santiago Vergini, at right back, John O'Shea and Wes Brown in central defence and Van Aanholt represents a more than competent obstruction and destruction unit, O'Shea and Brown are not getting any younger.
Next to them was the competent but chilling US homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, whose defence of human rights contained a frightening number of "buts... .., and the EU's terror co-ordinator, Gijs de Vries.
The US and the British are keen to see Mr Jaafari replaced by someone they see as more competent, and to ensure that key departments such as interior, defence, economy and oil are run by effective ministers.
Marise Payne is the first female defence minister and nobody suggests she is somehow less competent than her predecessor, Kevin Andrews.
Against Crystal Palace he not only looked more competent in possession but he appears to be taking more responsibility organising his defence.
