Monday, February 11, 2008

Still ashamed after all these years

According to the NY Times today, the Pentagon commissioned the Rand Corp to write an analysis of Our Dear Embattled Leader's Glorious Little War. In a troubling development for all that were in charge, all the principal players came out covered in shit. So the military with the cooperation of the crew in the White House proceeded to sit on the report so no one could see it. While the report still has not seen the light of day, the Times does provide a few tidbits for your enjoyment.
“Building public support for any pre-emptive or preventative war is inherently challenging, since by definition, action is being taken before the threat has fully manifested itself,” it said. “Any serious discussion of the costs and challenges of reconstruction might undermine efforts to build that support.”

Another problem described was a general lack of coordination. “There was never an attempt to develop a single national plan that integrated humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, governance, infrastructure development and postwar security,” the study said.
And.
A “shortfall” in American troops was exacerbated when General Franks and Mr. Rumsfeld decided to stop the deployment of the Army’s First Cavalry Division when other American forces entered Baghdad, the study said, a move that reflected their assessment that the war had been won. Problems persisted during the occupation. In the months that followed, the report said, there were “significant tensions, most commonly between the civilian and military arms of the occupation.”

The poor planning had “the inadvertent effort of strengthening the insurgency,” as Iraqis experienced a lack of security and essential services and focused on “negative effects of the U.S. security presence.” The American military’s inability to seal Iraq’s borders, a task the 2005 report warned was still not a priority, enabled foreign support for the insurgents to flow into Iraq.
If you have been following the exploits of ODEL and his minions, you can imagine the rest and probably not be too far off.

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