Ray McGovern: Iraq’s Early Vietnam Moment

[babylonsister]

Iraq’s Early Vietnam Moment
by Ray McGovern

snip//

The president’s father had an acute appreciation for the essential role of unbiased intelligence. Indeed, I had the privilege of watching-and helping-him face down strong pressure from other administration officials to cook the intelligence to the recipe of policy.

In contrast, the son seems oblivious to the importance of protecting intelligence process from prostitution. As a result, Cheney and Rumsfeld have free rein, CIA director Tenet kowtows, and intelligence community analysis is thoroughly politicized. The president has no place to turn for a check on Rumsfeld’s/Cheney’s whiz kids.

It is a classical Greek tragedy; with the major character flaw of hubris planting the seeds of the ruler’s own destruction.

Rumsfeld eventually will write his memoir-his own version of McNamara’s “We were wrong; terribly wrong”-and probably use the proceeds to add to his estates in Taos. This will bring no consolation, though, to the one likely to be the next one-term Bush back in Texas.

It is also tragic that the president does not read very much, for he would have found the following in his father’s memoir:

“Trying to eliminate Saddam…would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible…we would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq…there was no viable ‘exit strategy’ we could see, violating another of our principles…Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations’ mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/03/4991/