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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Rumsfeld’s War, Powell’s Occupation |
| 2004-05-03 |
| Heavily EFL, READ IT ALL, as they say! hattip NRO *snip* First, it’s not Rumsfeld’s occupation; it’s Colin Powell’s and George Tenet’s. Second, although it’s painfully obvious that much is wrong with this occupation, it’s simple-minded to assume that more troops will fix it. More troops may be needed now, but more of the same will not do the job. Something different is needed — and was, right from the start. Rumsfeld’s plan was to train and equip — and then transport to Iraq — some 10,000 Shia and Sunni freedom fighters led by Shia exile leader Ahmed Chalabi and his cohorts in the INC, the multi-ethnic anti-Saddam coalition he created. There, they would have joined with thousands of experienced Kurdish freedom fighters, ably led, politically and militarily, by Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani. Working with our special forces, this trio would have sprung into action at the start of the war, striking from the north, helping to drive Baathist thugs from power, and joining Coalition forces in the liberation of Baghdad. That would have put a proud, victorious, multi-ethnic Iraqi face on the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and it would have given enormous prestige to three stubbornly independent and unashamedly pro-American Iraqi freedom fighters: Chalabi, Talabani, and Barzani. Jay Garner, the retired American general Rumsfeld chose to head the civilian administration of the new Iraq, planned to capitalize on that prestige immediately by appointing all three, along with six others, to head up Iraq’s new transitional government. He planned to cede power to them in a matter of weeks — not months or years — and was confident that they would work with him, not against him, because two of them already had. General Garner, after all, is the man who headed the successful humanitarian rescue mission that saved the Kurds in the disastrous aftermath of Gulf War I, after the State Department-CIA crowd and like thinkers in the first Bush administration betrayed them. Kurds are not a small minority — and they remember. The hero’s welcome they gave General Garner when he returned to Iraq last April made that crystal clear. General Garner was replaced by L. Paul Bremer, a State Department man who kept most of the power in his own hands and diluted what little power Chalabi, Talabani, and Barzani had by appointing not six but 22 other Iraqis to share power with them. *BIG snip* Men like Chalabi, Talabani, and Barzani have nothing but contempt for Mr. Brahimi, the U.N., and old Europe. They know perfectly well who their real enemies are, and they understand that only decisive military action against them can create the kind of order that is a necessary precondition for freedom and democracy. They see, as our State Department Arabists do not, that we will never be loved, in Iraq or anywhere else in the Middle East, until we are respected, and that the month we have wasted negotiating with the butchers of Fallujah has earned us only contempt, frightening our friends and encouraging our mortal enemies. *snip* It is not yet too late for us to recognize these facts and act on them by dismissing Brahimi, putting Secretary Rumsfeld and our Iraqi friends fully in charge at last, and unleashing our Marines to make an example of Fallujah. And when al Jazeera screams "massacre," instead of cringing and apologizing, we need to stand tall and proud and tell the world: Lynch mobs like the one that slaughtered four Americans will not be tolerated. Order will restored, and Iraqis who side with us will be protected and rewarded. |
| Posted by:Anny Emous |
| #10 MBD writes: The "Holy Ghost" didn't tell me to write this. Thanks for that clarification, MBD. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester TROLL 2004-05-03 9:07:44 AM |
| #9 [Troll droppings deleted] |
| Posted by: Man Bites Dog TROLL 2004-05-03 9:07:44 AM |
| #8 Who remembers that GWB issued a public offer to Mullah Omar, to deliver bin Laden, or face war? LOL Hi! Boris. Got the War didn't they? |
| Posted by: Mann Bites Dust 2004-05-03 6:22:21 PM |
| #7 Are we going to discuss this every week? |
| Posted by: someone 2004-05-03 10:59:22 AM |
| #6 The 10,000 exile division would have been difficult to do. They could not have been trained in time, there probably weren't anywhere near 10,000 good soldiers - all of whom would have had to be vetted --, they could not have learned to handle the electronic battlefield coordination. It might have been possible to put together a 1000 person light armored brigade with a lot of American support. Maybe. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-05-03 9:40:52 AM |
| #5 [Troll droppings deleted] |
| Posted by: Man Bites Dog TROLL 2004-05-03 9:07:44 AM |
| #4 Man Sucks Dog - you have no answers - to anything - that apply to the real world, just criticisms and half-baked DUmmy Talking Points. You do not know WTF you're talking about - on any thread. FOAD Donk Dick. |
| Posted by: ,com 2004-05-03 9:03:44 AM |
| #3 most of the Council is viewed, at best, as carpetbaggers. What's wrong with that? Isn't that how we view our own esteemed representatives? Looks like progress to me. |
| Posted by: Anny Emous 2004-05-03 8:59:18 AM |
| #2 Look it. The choice was: which group of crooks were we going to put in charge? The notion that any of those folks are home-grown democrats is absurd. All we did was select the least corrupt people we could find. Democracy takes time and education. When you read the Iraqi blogs, you discover that most of the Council is viewed, at best, as carpetbaggers. The advantage to a large council is that the in-fighting dilutes their ability to rip off the system. The elections that are going to occur will be the first step in the democratization process. The exiles will be gone, finally, and that will be the best thing for the country. I'm not sure I would be proud of a country who would earn respect in the world by making an example of any city. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-05-03 8:47:29 AM |
| #1 What! Chalabi is an Iranian puppet (MSNBC reported that his group maintained an office in Teheran for years). He knows that with Baathists out of the way, his Shiite majority can win Mullah-controlled pseudo-democratic elections, which airheads like GWB and VDH will celebrate. Bush-Powell should have made alliances with secular remnants in Afghanistan and Iraq, instead they allied partly with some of the same animals who carried out the 9-11 genocide. Who remembers that GWB issued a public offer to Mullah Omar, to deliver bin Laden, or face war? Bush-Powell have no problem with Muslim extremism, as long as these elements do not attack US interests. State has pressured Egyptian release of thousands of hardline extremists and terrorists, under the pretext of "political islam." That policy of indulgence of Islamofascism in its al-taqiyah (strategic deception) form, is pure madness. Those people need to die, and there are seculars in Muslim majority states who want to kill them, but Bush-Powell are in the way. The "Holy Ghost" didn't tell me to write this. When stupidity prospers, none dare call it stupidity. |
| Posted by: Man Bites Dog 2004-05-03 8:45:30 AM |