LTTE: Rumsfeld's legacy: Arrogance, self-deception

[Caoimhe]

He is proof that U.S. government doesn't understand the world

In the wake of Donald Rumsfeld's abrupt, belated departure as secretary of defense, we are left with two questions

First, why did it take so long? Second, have President Bush -- and the United States -- learned anything from the badly handled invasion and occupation of Iraq, which Rumsfeld masterminded?

The first question now is important only to historians and political finger-pointers. It comes too late for the families of thousands of Iraqis and Americans killed in the Iraq war and accompanying civil chaos.

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U.S. presidents, Republicans and Democrats alike, have made a series of such missteps in the latter part of the 20th century and early 21st century.

Iran, Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq ... the list goes on. In each case, the U.S. brazenly presumed that it knew what was best for the other country. Better yet, the U.S. had the brainpower and the might, whether through covert operations or military force, to get the job done!

Such arrogance ... such stubbornness ... such self-deception.

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read the entire letter Here

[Actionman]

1. don't forget ignorance

ignorance to know who the so called enemy is, culture and resolve in their belief. The brits are on the perimeter, why, because they know, they were the last to invade this area (1900)and what they ended up doing was partitioning the invaded area. the largest being call iraq and they got the hell out because they too were ignorant to culture and resolve. that's what got us in vietnam.