I know the program in general has been discussed in the past here, but I want to focus on one aspect of the program and what it means. Bush's own state department planned for a post Saddam Iraq in a plan called "The Future of Iraq Project." That project warned of looting, made plans to prevent it, made plans to do deal with restroing power, policing, elections, constitutions, economics etc. In essence all the plans we encountered were planned for, but the Pentagon took control of it, and dismantled the plans of the project. We have all seen the result. General Garner was told by Rumsfeld himself to shelve the project. These plans were made BEFORE the invasion. The people who made them(planned properly) were dismissed, relieved, replaced etc. The people who(wrongly) dismissed the plans have been rewarded, and not one of them reprimanded. Had the plan been implemented Iraq would currently have an army, power supply, and economy planned for at a minimum. They had plans down to the detail of trash pick up, and other services that could have helped bring about support from the average Iraqi citizen. Of course the head of the state department at that time is no longer in the administration and those from the Pentagon are either still there, forced out because of ethical violations, or promoted upward. This information in here is amazing but it shows that criticism of Bush's handling of post Saddam Iraq is not a hindsight matter. It was all planned out BEFORE the invasion, and ignored. Check out the story. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/truth/fighting/turfwars.html
This stuff is just incredible. I want to be outraged, and yet can't because I've become so inured... will enough of this stuff add up eventually so we can get a real investigation into this whole damn mess?
Amazing incompetence! But you know what, I have learned not to be surprised anymore byt anything this administration does. The truly sad thing here has NOTHING to do with whom is doing it, or what party, I think the real victim here are our soldiers first and foremost, and then, in the long run, our country. Let's just say it will take decades (if ever) to get this country back on the right track. It's a task that falls squarely on the shoulders of our generation; this is apprently what the Neocons meant by "Project of the New American Century".
America Inc., Enron style. People in business who make predictions like "bomb by christmas", "soldiers will be out in six months", and "Iraqi oil will pay for Iraq's reconstruction" would be fired for gross negligence.
LOL - I guess this is the liberals' "outrage of the day". Guess what liberals, I guarantee that some writer will write something every day to bash the Bush administration. I guarantee that you will be outraged, dumbfounded and amazed that people could have been so "stupid" in your eyes to re-elect Bush (over half the voters, but keep telling yourself that they're all stupid idiots...). I also guarantee that at least two or three of these stories will be posted in the D&D by noon of each day, greatly reducing your search costs needed to hunt down the source of your "outrage of the day". You're in luck!
Of course there will be an outrage of the day, it sells to half the country. I for one just don't like this administration or what they have done since taking office. I personally thought Kerry was a terrible choice for the Democrats last year, but I voted for him as the lesser of two evils. I am sure there are those on the right that voted for Bush as the lesser of two evils because they feel strongly against abortion, gay marriage, gun control and school vouchers. One of Barkley's best statements was to his relatives who were chastising him for voting Republican. He said if your rich and don't vote Republican then your stupid. I would like to hear somebody, anybody start to come up with solutions instead of just whining and b!tching. I already know that Bush, Rumsfield and some at the Pentagon have screwed up post-war Iraq. I would like to read something new about alternatives to 12 years of fighting a guerilla war over there.
some writer????? Did you check the link? This was very well researched. The information isn't from some writer but from Richard Perle, Richard Haas, General Jay Garner, Kanan Makiya, and others. What are you talking about?... "some writer". This isn't about liberals or conservatives. Even people who are in favor of the war would surely want it done correctly, or is there a group of people such as yourself who wanted war with Iraq, and wanted it done with as many AVOIDABLE mistakes as possible? The some writer line is hilarious. General Garner by the way was the person assigned to be in charge of all of Iraq, initially. He went over there and ran everything. But it is some writer that is responsible for this? The least you could do is read the link. Tiger was correct, this is about the soldiers. If these plans were followed, There would have more policing done by Iraqis, the policing plans were already there to be put into place. The Iraqi security forces would have been more than double what they are now, democratization and a constitution would have already been established or far ahead of the stage it is at now, it is quite possible that the new growth of insurgents would have been only a fraction of the size they are now, and handeled primarily by Iraq's own forces, and our soldiers would have been that much close to coming home, and leaving behind a stable Iraq run by Iraqis. Aren't those the things that Bush says he wants in Iraq? This simply shows that we could have had it. People who believe Bush should be outraged by this as well. The plans were designed by Bush's own state department, and then discarded by the Pentagon with a little help from the whitehouse.
Here are some things that were planned and ignored. It is amazing that they had plans in place for courts, justice systems, police, and prisons. These are things that caused the U.S. much grief, not only in Iraq but with our image world wide. They had the plans but the Pentagon along with the Condi and others on the national security council decided not to use them. Think of who and what could have been saved. Bigtexxxxxxxxx - General Jay Garner was the first person in charge of the reconstruction of Iraq. But you can call him 'some liberal writer' if you want.
