Sunday, December 03, 2006

How Hubris Lost the War

Every month, the violence escalates. Every month Iraqis fall deeper into poverty. The infrastructure of the country continues to deteriorate, with electricity, water and sanitation sporadic at best. By virtually any measure, the country is worse off than it was before we got there. And now comes the constitution fiasco. The constitution was supposed to convince the Sunni's to get on board and join the program. The Sunni's have rejected it completely. They are dead set against a federal state, believing it will eventually lead to the partitioning of country. Which is the same reason the Shia and Kurds are in favor of it. This is a civil war waiting to happen. And the Shiites are not only fighting the Sunni's, but fighting amongst themselves. Iraq is a country rapidly descending into utter chaos. Part of this is because the Iraqi people didn't choose Regime Change or revolution. They were attacked, occupied, and policed by the United States.

This war was lost due to sheer arrogance. Because a small group of men with no military experience thought they knew better than the best military minds in the country or NATO. Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowisz. Chickenhawks all, willing to send others to do the dirty work they were unwilling to do. Virtually no military experience, yet convinced they knew better than the current Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the three previous Chairmen( including Desert Storm leader Colon Powell), the Marine Commandant, and the Army's top general. Were so confident that they ridiculed these men for having the hutzpah not to see the brilliance of their plan.

How much different would things be in Iraq today if Bush and his fellow Yellow Elephants had been humble enough to listen to the experts? If we had gone in full force. If we'd have had enough troops on the ground to actually secure the country? If we would have had a real plan for reconstructing the country?

Every time an IED blows one (or two, or ten) of our kids into oblivion, remember all those ammunition dumps we left unguarded because we didn't have enough manpower. Next time Rummy or Dick complain about foreign fighters amongst the insurgents, ask yourself how many of these fighters would be there if we would have had adequate manpower to guard the borders? Ask how much different things would be now if not for the arrogance of a few small men.

Make no mistake, this war is lost. Even many Congressmen and Senators in Bush's own party are conceding the fact. And when history deals out the blame, it's gonna fall on the lap of one man. That's when the buck he has been passing for the last 6 years will finally come to rest where it belongs!

by The Great White Bear, edited by Polanco Consulting

2 comments:

opit said...

Have you ever heard of Occam's Razor ? It's a logic tool to derive answers obscured by the trails of false premises. When you have eliminated all the likely explanations, it is time to consider the unlikely : the answer must lie there.
Applying that here leads to a galling but inescapable conclusion. The list of events demands one seriously consider the seeming ineptitude was in fact only the visible evidence of planning to lead to results other than those stated as desired. ( Like that would be a surprise ! )

United We Lay said...

Yes, I've heard of it. I don't thnk that many have applied it to the war, even self-professed logicians.