Report says Bush was unprepared for post-war chaos [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Report says Bush was unprepared for post-war chaos

Barry Schweid | Washington, United States



27 July 2005 08:07

An independent panel headed by two former United States national security advisers on Wednesday said chaos in postwar Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.

Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft, national security advisers to former presidents Bill Clinton and George HW Bush, respectively.

"A dramatic military victory has been overshadowed by chaos and bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad, difficulty in establishing security or providing essential services, and a deadly insurgency," said the private report sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.

"The costs, human, military and economic, are high and continue to mount," the report said.

Two years after after a stunning three-week march on Baghdad, US and Iraqi military forces have been unable to secure and rebuild the country, and reconstruction has fallen victim to a lack of security, the report said.
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