Article

2003-11-26 Iraq

US General who governed Iraq exposes errors

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Posted by rkb 2003-11-26 9:15:11 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I wouldn't shoot down all of Garner's statements. Let's analyze somethings, make tweaks where necessary and then move on. I don't dismiss everything he says, I'm sure we've fucked shit up - heck, that's to be expected w/any plan. As the old Bushido saying goes when something unexpecte or bad happens "That is War". Things will keep improving, matter of time, too many people w/the instant gratification syndrome running around yelling the sky is falling.

Posted by Jarhead 2003-11-26 9:25:53 AM|| 2003-11-26 9:25:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "think we are finally placing more trust in Iraqis, which we should have done to begin with."

I think he's dead on. Placing more trust in Iraqis, including exiles, was the gameplan going in. Problem with that was State Dept and CIA didnt trust the exiles, and thought they could cultivate people they liked better - so they nixed putting large numbers of INC in during the war, and they pushed out Garner. well they havent yet raised a viable local leadership - looks like that will take years. While the guerilla war grinds on. And the euros and UN, who were supposed to like the State dept and oppose the neocons, turned out to be unwilling to go along with a long US occupation - so we dont have the foreigners as a substitute for the locals, in terms of troops or legitimacy. And it hasnt helped that by all accounts (not just the press, but Iraqi bloggers, troops in blogs and other reports, etc) the CPA under Bremer has been less than competent in reconstruction. Ever notice how many of the reconstruction success stories involve US troops improvising on the ground, generally doing stuff that the CPA SHOULD have been doing. State has even had difficulty getting enough folks over there to staff up the CPA.

Well now it appears Condi and Dubya may have wised up. We cant win this by marginalizing the existing Iraqi leadership (IE the exiles and their allies) And we cant win this by making Iraq a US colony for 5 years. Thats why the about face on the political plan for Iraq - the admin realized the old one had F*cked up. Kudos to the admin for realizing that and being willing to change. Now Garner is getting in his licks at Bremer - licks which as far as I can tell, are richly deserved.

Posted by liberalhawk 2003-11-26 9:29:42 AM|| 2003-11-26 9:29:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 does anyone recall that Iraq was supposed to break apart into separate ethnic regions ? (you'll never hold the country together) And the unavoidable humanitarian crisis ? (BBC was predicting millions would starve) When was the last time you heard about the electricity being better under Saddam ? And lets not forget the WWIII as the entire middle east erupts in turmoil.

Posted by eyeyeye 2003-11-26 9:50:16 AM|| 2003-11-26 9:50:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 eye, true enough. The separate ethnic regions is still a remote possibility though. May even prove politically viable for us in the long run.

The rest of it was just the "chicken littles" whining the sky is falling to the supposed "chicken hawks".

Posted by Jarhead 2003-11-26 10:19:09 AM|| 2003-11-26 10:19:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Liberalhawk, I agree with you re: State & the CIA distrusting the exiles, and the problems that has cost us. Not so sure on one account, though, which is that you see Bremer as their man vs. Garner as DOD's. Not quite my take on things, but I could be wrong.

Reservists I've talked to are frustrated with the CPA's slowness. From where I sit, though, it's hard to separate out the Army's culture, which is to try for an 80% solution and then do more if needed, vs. "doing it right since it's for posterity". It's one thing to show initiative in rebuilding a school or a cement plant. Creating a stable civil society, including local, regional and national governance with courts, police etc., requires more thought and care IMO.

Insofar as Bremer might have a State Dept / bureaucratic bent, I can see the point you make. But Garner didn't strike me as being the right man for reconstruction. He would have been exactly the right person if we had needed to deal with hundreds of thousands of refugees or massive civilian medical casualties, though.

Posted by rkb 2003-11-26 10:55:33 AM|| 2003-11-26 10:55:33 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 That Garner would publicly choose Tom Warrick as his deputy showed a real lack of political acumen. Warrick made his State Department bones during the Clinton Administration, had no use for the Iraqi exiles, and was anathema to the DOD. I agreee with rkb that Garner would have been terrific had the war generated a million refugees. When that didn't occur he was not the right man for the Baghdad job, and Colin Powell had much better candidates to push.

Posted by Tancred 2003-11-26 12:24:20 PM|| 2003-11-26 12:24:20 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 The problem is, we still have three enemies to face: the Iraqi "fedayeen" hard-liners from the old Ba'ath government, the foreign Arab fighters, and the bureaucrats in Washington. We need to stomp all three, instead of concentrating on one or two. Colin Powell has proven totally ineffectual in bringing the State Department into the new government, and deserves to be canned. The government "union" needs to be smashed, and the people that believe they run the government, instead of elected officials, hanged.
The problem's been there for forty years - it's time to 'make it go away'. It's graduated beyond turf wars into ideological and political forces that are not working in the best interests of the people of the United States. It's now limiting our ability to win the War on Terrorism. We don't have the luxury of having two governments: one of them needs to cease to exist. Gonna be bloody, but it HAS to be done, if we're to remain a free people. I hope Dubya's got the cojones to do it, but I'm beginning to lose hope.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-11-26 7:12:50 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-26 7:12:50 PM|| Front Page Top

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