Ragusa
Wed, 20th Oct '04, 10:31am
The Strategy to Secure Iraq Did Not Foresee a 2nd War (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/international/19war.html?ei=1&en=326df9a64807df1b&ex=1099200260&pagewanted=print&position=). The title speaks for itself, but let me quote this: Gen. Tommy R. Franks climbed out of a C-130 plane at the Baghdad airport on April 16, 2003 (...) Huddling in a drawing room with his top commanders, General Franks told them it was time to make plans to leave. Combat forces should be prepared to start pulling out within 60 days if all went as expected, he said. By September, the more than 140,000 troops in Iraq could be down to little more than a division, about 30,000 troops.
To help bring stability and allow the Americans to exit, President Bush had reviewed a plan the day before seeking four foreign divisions - including Arab and NATO troops - to take on peacekeeping duties.That means, Bush Jr. not only believed that the allies he had so carefully insulted during the pre-war period would cave in and follow his glorious leadership and clean up the mess behind the US conquest -- he also seemed to believe in the neo-con idea that the US would be greeted with flowers and cheers, and probably that Ahmed Chalabi would become their new democratic, pro-western, pro-US, pro-Israeli prime minister.
That also means: There was no planning for "what-happens-if-things-go-wrong". Things going wrong weren't part of the plan. Bush Jr. told fellow-preacher Robertson that he didn't expect US casualties (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/19/robertson.bush.iraq/index.html). Dissent with questions of faith was ignored. Disagreeing about troop levels with his neo-con leadership levels got Gen. Shinseki sacked. Once again I find Gen. Odom's thoughts on this interesting (http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=7006).
As a result of the blundering of Bush's Pentagon leadership crew the US Army is overstretched now (http://www.iht.com/articles/112469.html) -- Insurgency Threw a Wrench Into Military's Supply Planning (http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-equip19oct19,0,2544868,print.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines) -- Secret report details plan to draft medics (http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/19/news/draft.html) -- By the thousands, soldiers 50 and older are being deployed (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-18/109798906786681.xml) -- all these are symptoms for that the Bush administration very much underestimated the task at hand when they took on Iraq.
But nevermind, Condi knows who's to blame: ... many Iraqi forces fled during the American push to Baghdad, only to fight another day. She also said the minority Sunni population, which had been in power under Mr. Hussein, felt unsettled, contributing to a "permissive environment."Darn, the Iraqis didn't play by the Pentagon and Whitehouse playbooks -- maybe they should have been handed a copy before the war ...
To help bring stability and allow the Americans to exit, President Bush had reviewed a plan the day before seeking four foreign divisions - including Arab and NATO troops - to take on peacekeeping duties.That means, Bush Jr. not only believed that the allies he had so carefully insulted during the pre-war period would cave in and follow his glorious leadership and clean up the mess behind the US conquest -- he also seemed to believe in the neo-con idea that the US would be greeted with flowers and cheers, and probably that Ahmed Chalabi would become their new democratic, pro-western, pro-US, pro-Israeli prime minister.
That also means: There was no planning for "what-happens-if-things-go-wrong". Things going wrong weren't part of the plan. Bush Jr. told fellow-preacher Robertson that he didn't expect US casualties (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/19/robertson.bush.iraq/index.html). Dissent with questions of faith was ignored. Disagreeing about troop levels with his neo-con leadership levels got Gen. Shinseki sacked. Once again I find Gen. Odom's thoughts on this interesting (http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=7006).
As a result of the blundering of Bush's Pentagon leadership crew the US Army is overstretched now (http://www.iht.com/articles/112469.html) -- Insurgency Threw a Wrench Into Military's Supply Planning (http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-equip19oct19,0,2544868,print.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines) -- Secret report details plan to draft medics (http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/10/19/news/draft.html) -- By the thousands, soldiers 50 and older are being deployed (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-18/109798906786681.xml) -- all these are symptoms for that the Bush administration very much underestimated the task at hand when they took on Iraq.
But nevermind, Condi knows who's to blame: ... many Iraqi forces fled during the American push to Baghdad, only to fight another day. She also said the minority Sunni population, which had been in power under Mr. Hussein, felt unsettled, contributing to a "permissive environment."Darn, the Iraqis didn't play by the Pentagon and Whitehouse playbooks -- maybe they should have been handed a copy before the war ...