Behind the Failure

I hope the media keeps these type of articles running through-out the elections. The public has to continue to see the truth...


Behind the Failure


By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Friday, August 22, 2003; Page A21


Can we now please admit that the Bush administration's policies in Iraq are a terrible failure?

The terrorist truck bomb that blew up the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad this week also blew up the pretensions of an arrogant strategy that assumed the United States could do nation-building on the cheap. It was an approach that assumed we needed little support from traditional allies, only a limited number of troops and relatively modest expenditures to rebuild a shattered country.

Perhaps even more disturbing than the administration's indifference to the truth or falsity of the various claims it made before the war is the fact that it seemed to believe its own propaganda. President Bush and Vice President Cheney really thought that if they wished it, it would come -- "it" in this case being not only a quick victory in the war but also a rapid rallying of Iraqis to the American standard afterward.

Last March on "Meet the Press," moderator Tim Russert asked Cheney: "If your analysis is not correct and we're not treated as liberators but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, bloody battle with significant American casualties?"

Cheney replied: "Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators

First time I've tried a link...so let's see what happens...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29303-2003Aug21.html

And the column is right on. Too bad that the majority of Americans don't have the critical thinking skills to read and digest what the writer said. This should be required reading for all school kids.

We have been taken over by idgits.

wrong conclusion.

First this writer needs to be complemented for his direct criticism of the idiots that be. Quoting their egregiously and deliberating false projections concerning Iraq needs to be done over and over again again. In fact, I couldn't think of any more effective political ads to destroy the election hopes of any of these murderous fools.

But...I do not accept the conclusion that: "Now that we have invaded Iraq, we cannot afford to let the place go to pieces." First of all, this is an unspoken and inherent chauvinism to this remark, akin to the salacious prude who believes only he can save the prostitute from herself or is it for himself?

The most valuable principle leaders can learn in terms of failure, is that "sunk costs are no costs." The best way to terminate losses is stop what your doing and stop funding what your doing. The notion that Iraqis with a 500 year domestic supply of energy can't fund their own reconstruction is ridiculous. The first thing the greedy and inept American conquerors should do is get out of Iraq. Then there will be a mad international rush of corporate bidders to restore Iraq's infrastructure.

But of course, this is exactly what we don't want. Their resources belong to Cheny and Rumsfeldt corporate cronies now.