posted on May 12, 2004 08:48:42 PM newU.S. decisions led to Iraq occupation missteps
Critics say there were key mistakes despite warnings
By Andrea Mitchell
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 7:41 p.m. ET May 12, 2004
How did a lightning-quick invasion turn into what some fear is becoming a nightmare occupation? Critics point to key mistakes, despite plenty of warning.
First: too few troops. Top Pentagon officials rebuked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who told Congress it would take at least 200,000 troops to keep the peace in Iraq.
Instead, the Pentagon planned for only 110,000 forces for the post-war occupation — not enough to prevent widespread looting or an insurgency.
According to former Secretary of the Army Thomas White, “A great deal of the problems we have today were caused by not being in overwhelming strength at the time we took over the country. We were not able to secure critical infrastructure that was subsequently looted power stations, hospitals, government buildings and the like.”
Second: the decision to disband the Iraqi army. A year ago Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, let Iraqi soldiers go home with their weapons instead of using them to create a security force.
State Department consultant David Phillips said, “The decision to eliminate the Iraqi army turned those Iraqis into adversaries of the U.S.-led coalition. Not only the soldiers themselves, but all their family members, deeply resented the way they were treated.”
And what about establishing law and order? A month before the war, retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni told Congress the United States would need at least 5,000 police trainers. But plans were not ready.
Why didn’t they plan better? Seventeen teams met at the State Department for more than a year before the war — on everything from how to restore water and electricity to creating a new government. But top Pentagon officials refused to even read their 13-volume report.
Even critics admit that schools have been reopened and oil is being exported. But they say the United States never figured out how to win Iraqi hearts and minds. And the recent upsurge in violence is now a serious threat to the reconstruction of Iraq.
posted on May 13, 2004 06:39:43 AM new
In addition to all those strategic blunders is the folly of preventive, unilateral war policy in the first place. After 9/11 the U.S. had support from both NATO and the United Nations Security Council and other countries who contributed troops and money. But when Bush reversed direction to Iraq, a country without terrorists or any relation to 9/11, he lost that support.
A stubborn, arrogant stance of staying the course can only endanger the security and prosperity of the U.S.
posted on May 13, 2004 07:05:52 AM new
Having the resources for flexible responces to non-domestic events, whether through the military, intellegence assets, international relations, law enforcement, economic, or political resources is the modern and intellegent way for statecraft in international affairs.
But those resources are useless when we have the idiot tag team of Bush and Cheney in the White House.
The ship of state is heading for a reef and Bush's answer is to "stay the course".
posted on May 13, 2004 07:31:35 AM newRumsfeld admits Iraq mission could fail
13 May 2004
United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has raised the possibility that the US mission in Iraq could fail, the Knight Ridder/Tribune news service reports.
A sombre Rumsfeld was reported as saying the prison abuse scandal delivered a "body blow" to the nation-building effort in Iraq that has cost the lives of more than 770 American troops.
Rumsfeld was quoted while speaking at the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Pentagon's request for an additional $US25 billion to fund the Iraq war - a figure he conceded was only a partial payment on what the war will cost next year.
The news agency reported the "normally unflappable Rumsfeld at times appeared defensive and emotional", especially when listening to despairing emails form US troops who wanted to come home.
It quoted Rumsfeld as saying: "Will it (winning the war) happen right on time? I think so. I hope so. Will it be perfect? No. Is it possible it won't work? Yes."
But he said: "I look at Iraq and all I can say is, I hope it comes out well, and I believe it will. And we're going to keep at it."
He also delivered a rambling statement ripping media coverage of the prison abuse scandal.
"I've kind of stopped reading the press, frankly," Rumsfeld said, his voice quavering at times.
An email read to Rumsfeld from a career officer in Iraq said troops were "appalled and ashamed" over Abu Ghraib.
"Nobody wants to compare this to Vietnam," the email said.
"But it's starting to feel that way on the ground. Everybody just wants to finish their year, get the hell out and forget they were ever here."
"I guess it's disturbing," Rumsfeld said of the email, "but it's not surprising that an individual feels that way."
