After 18 months of research, RAND submitted a report in the summer of 2005 called “Rebuilding Iraq.” RAND researchers provided an unclassified version of the report along with a secret one, hoping that its publication would contribute to the public debate on how to prepare for future conflicts.We are not winning in Iraq because it really was an ill planned and poorly executed operation as a whole (not to mention ill advised - see George Bush Senior's book on the subject as to why he didn't go to Baghdad in Desert Storm if you don't believe me).
But the study’s wide-ranging critique of the White House, the Defense Department and other government agencies was a concern for Army generals, and the Army has sought to keep the report under lock and key.
A review of the lengthy report — a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times — shows that it identified problems with nearly every organization that had a role in planning the war. That assessment parallels the verdicts of numerous former officials and independent analysts.
Indeed, the fault rests with those who pushed the green go button - each and every one of them - with the penultimate responsibility resting on the shoulders of George W. Bush (which of course, he will deny with his strongest deflection and denial techniques).
Watch George and his pals play the blame game (which they claim to abhor) as this dialog surfaces in the coming days. The Whitehouse's enormous wagging middle finger of blame will no doubt point in all directions except at themselves.
1 comment:
Another voice
chrisfox8 in a Forum Post on WashingtonPost.com
Re: Ah yes, ragingbull, it is simple. at 2/24/2008 2:14 PM EST
Bethu has an unbroken record of being dead wrong on here, no exception in the post you're answering. What he neglected to mention is that prior to our invasion Iraq was exactly that; secure in its borders, absolutely not a terrorist haven, absolutely not a place where Islamic radicalism could take root. America looked at Iraq and saw a brutal dictator; Dick Cheney and Ken Lay looked at Iraq and saw oceans of oil with their names on it. Only a few rational people looked at Iraq and saw a Pandora's Box of ills and only one man with the strenght -- and the brutality -- to keep the lid on it. Let me pre-empt what is sure to follow: yes, I think Iraq, the USA, and the world would be a better place today if we had left Saddam in charge. But your question remains .. all those dead soldiers, all those dead civilians, so maybe just maybe in twenty or forty years Iraq can end up like it was before we invaded. Move over, Charge of the Light Brigade, folly has a new poster-boy.
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