Blame Rummy for a war plan that went wrong

[emad]

Blame Rummy for a war plan that went wrong
Andrew Sullivan



The great conundrum in understanding the conduct of the war in Iraq is a relatively simple one. How on earth did a noble and necessary decision to remove the Saddam Hussein regime result in such a chaotic occupation? The initial campaign to seize the country was brilliant, but almost immediately it was clear that something was awry.

The looting and mayhem in the wake of the collapse of a totalitarian state were eminently predictable. So why did the US and coalition armies simply let it happen? Why did they allow whole swathes of Iraq to descend into near-anarchy or control by Ba’athists and jihadist insurgents, make no attempt to seal the borders and dither for more than a year about the constitutional way forward?

Or to put it another way: if this project was as important as the Bush administration said it was, why did it seem unprepared and at times even indifferent to the consequences of invasion?

Well, we are beginning to get some answers — drip by drip, as former officials begin to leak or write memoirs. Two new books help a little. The first, My Year in Iraq, is by Paul Bremer, the former de facto pro-consul in Iraq in the critical early period. The second is a new biography of George W Bush, Rebel-In-Chief by Fred Barnes, published this week. Barnes, a former colleague and friend, has great White House access. If you piece together both books, you get a glimpse into how the most secretive presidency in years operated.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1985737,00.html

[cliss]

1. Don Rumsfailed is an arrogant, incompetent fool.

He's been given far too much power and responsibility for such a mediocre man.

As he's gotten older, he's become more incompetent and foolish. And yet, his Prima Donna tendencies are stronger than ever.

But just because L. Paul Bremer says it, doesn't mean I'll pay any attention to him. He's a thief and he probably helped himself to 1/2 of that missing $8 billion dollars (he didn't want to take it all! After all, he doesn't want to appear greedy).