Quote:
Originally posted by depmats
I've heard he "wanted to help rebuild the country" and he "saw a business opportunity" but the way i understand it is there are not American civilians running around without body guards over there.
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First stop listening to George Jr spin. Berg was over there looking for work. He was trying to start a company. He was not some volunteer trying to save Iraq from itself. That was a George Jr lie by spinning the facts.
Second, start listening to long interviews even on Charlie Rose (PBS). People routinely moved about Iraq in January often without guards. Today, virtually all western newsmen send out their Iraqi cameramen, and report from their hotel or other secure locations. Things in many parts have deteriorated that much even in Baghdad.
We had a window of oppurtunity, typically three or six months, to prove we could improve their plight. Instead we have only replaced a tryrant with streets so unsafe that Iraqis can only hope things will get better. Wwe could not even get the electricity fully restored. Had we installed intelligent leaders in Iraq (ie Gen Garner), then Iraqis would have been building their own country. But instead we even violated principles clearly spelled out in "The Art of War" - a 500 BC book. The principles were that well proven which tells you something about the government that is running this war. We fired anyone who could make the utilities even work. Dear god. Did anyone even bother to learn the lessons of post war Germany? No. The president's knowledge of the world was a one year crash course headed by Conduleeza Rice. He is that mentally ignorant of this world.
Finally Iraqis have had enough. Clearly things will only get better if the Americans are gone - their perspective. Does not matter what you think. That is what they think. After all the smart Iraqis, the ones who could have got electricity working in one month, were instead driven by Bremmer into the ranks of terrorists and liberation armies.
Well, we had our chance. But just like in the first Gulf War, the polictical leaders again threw away any possiblity of a complete victory. Now we must compromise - to save what little good we came to install. We destroyed our military victory because, again, political leadership failed to understand and develop a strategic objective. Those leaders viewed Iraq as some sort of prize rather than do their job. They even left 3rd Infantry without any after action orders, tasks, objectives, or missions. Looting, as predicted, was inevitable. Then those George Jr leaders even denied looting was ongoing! You heard Rumsfeld say just that on domestic TV. This failure directly traceable to the George Jr administration that believed their own rhetoric rather than the truths of Iraqi experts and ex-patriots. We now have the inevitable mess created by the political rhetoric of Geroge Jr and his principles.
Again, stop listening to George Jr spin. Berg was there trying to start a business when American failures were appearing on the streets - making westerners retire and remain in safe complexes or only with heavily armed guards. Berg tried to get out. Too late. The situation in Iraq had deteriorated that badly after he was finally released by Iraqis. Deteriorated except when Rumsfeld speaks. Stop listening to George Jr spin.