|
IRAQ IN CHAOS
This is Cheney's and Rumsfeld's war and Bush continues to be the oblivious cheer leader like he was at Yale.
Chaos reigns both in Iraq and within a befuddled administration that continues to sink lower in credibility every day.
The Center for American Progress wraps up this untidy package of mistakes and continued blunders ~ and there are no bows on it .
Allen L Roland
IRAQ A Country In Chaos
Center for American Progress 5/03/04
This past Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of President Bush's now-famous declaration that major combat operations in Iraq were over. Over the weekend, he attempted to defend the speech, claiming, ''A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier, saying that we had achieved an important objective, that we had accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein." He did not mention the original premise for war – Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction. His statement also contradicted his claim six months ago that "the 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished," not to be confused with his statements on the end of major combat in Iraq. April was the deadliest month of conflict since the war began and with the transfer of power a mere two months away, "the Bush administration is squeezed between quelling the insurgency and the search for any idea that reduces the chances of a violent confrontation." The administration has thus far "left the impression it was grasping at alternatives, with little sense of how" new tactics "fit into the larger strategy or of its possible pitfalls," a balancing act analysts say "will only get harder...even after an interim Iraqi government takes charge and begins to prepare for elections."
THE MISTAKES:
In today's LA Times, American Progress fellow Larry Korb outlines some of the mistakes the administration did not learn from the war in Vietnam which are contributing to the ongoing chaos and struggle in Iraq. "The first, and presumably the most egregious, was to exaggerate the dangers our adversaries posed to us, something the Bush administration did in Iraq by exaggerating intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its ties to Al Qaeda." Also, "the administration failed to let Congress and the American people have a full, frank debate about the reasons for going to war or how long it would take or how much it would cost." The Bush administration "has still not explained why it was mistaken about the primary reasons for going to war." Finally, the organizational failures in Iraq have been paramount. A full year after the fall of Baghdad, "it remains unclear who is in charge of reconstruction and stabilization."
ALLEGED ABUSE:
The front pages of the papers today headline the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners inside the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. According to an internal military report obtained by Seymour Hersh in the most recent the New Yorker, the abuse in the prison was "systemic and illegal." Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the U.S.'s top general, acknowledged this weekend the "allegations that Iraqi prisoners were abused at a detention facility run by the Army have set back efforts to cultivate a positive image for the U.S. military in the region." The allegations underscore the larger problem of outsourcing military duties to private defense contractors, who may not adhere to the strict standards set by the military. One contractor under investigation is CACI International Inc., "an Arlington-based security firm, which supplied interrogators to assist military intelligence officers." CACI employees had "encouraged military police to abuse prisoners to 'soften them up' for questioning." A second company is also under investigation, the Titan Corp., which employed translators at the prison
REPORT COMPLETED IN FEBRUARY:
The 53-page report outlining the abuse, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, was completed in late February. This weekend, however, Myers acknowledged he had not read the internal report, saying, "It's working its way to me." In the months since the completion of the report, it appears military leaders haven't done anything in response.
IRAQI GENERAL REPLACED IN FALLUJAH:
In a move indicative of the general confusion and lack of planning the United States has shown in conducting military operations in Iraq, the U.S. has backed away from turning the security of the embattled city of Fallujah over to former Iraqi General Jassim Mohammed Saleh. Marines had named Saleh, a former member of the Saddam's Republican Guard, to lead the new Fallujah Brigade. However, while U.S. commanders "said that Saleh had agreed to go after the purported foreign fighters in Fallujah, Saleh announced that none are there." According to one perplexed military official, "We've just told him he can form a brigade and take over the city. Now we're telling him that he has to step aside?" Appointed in Saleh's place was Muhammad Latif, a former intelligence officer in the Iraqi army who studied at the British Staff College for military officers. Saleh will now "help lead only one of the three battalions that will form the brigade."
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...:
Newsweek reports that Ahmad Chalabi, "the longtime Pentagon favorite to become leader of a free Iraq, has never made a secret of his close ties to Iran." Those ties may have deadly repercussions for U.S. troops, however; "top Bush administration officials have been briefed on intelligence indicating that Chalabi and some of his top aides have supplied Iran with 'sensitive' information on the American occupation in Iraq." According to officials, "electronic intercepts of discussions between Iranian leaders indicate that Chalabi and his entourage told Iranian contacts about American political plans in Iraq. There are also indications that Chalabi has provided details of U.S. security operations. According to one U.S. government source, some of the information Chalabi turned over to Iran could 'get people killed.'" The Iraqi exile, who has close ties to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, has his own agenda and "may be working both sides in an effort to solidify his own power and block the advancement of rival Iraqis."
ANTIWAR EQUALS RACIST?:
In one of the weirder claims to be put forth by the White House, President Bush tied anti-war sentiment to racism. Friday the president announced: "There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern...I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily—are a different color than white can self-govern." Neither President Bush nor Press Secretary Scott McClellan commented on exactly who the people are who supposedly think that. The phrase "ours" to mean "white" is also offensive, given that the Census reports a quarter of people in the United States are other than white. |
