Pentagan University Report- Iraq War "debacle"

Parent Cafe
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<p><a href=“http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34101.html[/url]”>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34101.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>WASHINGTON — The war in Iraq has become “a major debacle” and the outcome “is in doubt” despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute.</p>

<p>The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush’s projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions.</p>

<p>The report carries considerable weight because it was written by Joseph Collins, a former senior Pentagon official, and was based in part on interviews with other former senior defense and intelligence officials who played roles in prewar preparations.</p>

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<p>“Debacle”? I think they were being kind.</p>

<p>"The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs, with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in Iraq have diverted “manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers” from “all other efforts in the war on terror” and severely strained the U.S. armed forces.</p>

<p>“Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there (in Iraq) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East,” the report continued.</p>

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<p>When I opened my major metropolitan area newspaper this morning, I searched in vain for mention of the National Defense University report. A quick Google search showed few major US newspapers carried the story, although it was picked up by various outlets overseas. Why is this not news here?</p>

<p>Sorry, but I fail to see how staying in Iraq indefinitely makes the region more secure, notwithstanding the fact that we will continue to lose irreplaceable “blood and treasure” over time. Since the various factions in Iraq have fought amongst themselves for thousands of years, it’s quite presumptuous of the US to believe it can force peace on Iraqis.</p>

<p>If the US believes it needs to fight the “war on terror” on the ground, let it do so from Afghanistan.</p>

<p>Excerpts from the report:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Occasional_Papers/OP5.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ndu.edu/inss/Occasional_Papers/OP5.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<pre><code>Globally, U.S. standing among friends and allies has fallen. Our status as a moral leader has been damaged by the war, the subsequent occupation of a Muslim nation, and various issues concerning the treatment of detainees. At the same time, operations in Iraq have had a negative impact on all other efforts in the war on terror, which must bow to the priority of Iraq when it comes to manpower, materiel, and the attention of decisionmakers. Our Armed Forces—especially the Army and Marine Corps—have been severely strained by the war in Iraq. Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East. As this case study is being written, despite impressive progress in security during the surge, the outcome of the war is in doubt.

… To date, the war in Iraq is a classic case of failure to adopt and adapt prudent courses of action that balance ends, ways, and means. After the major combat operation, U.S. policy has been insolvent, with inadequate means for pursuing ambitious ends. It is also a case where the perceived illegitimacy of our policy has led the United States to bear a disproportionate share of the war’s burden. U.S. efforts in Iraq stand in stark contrast to the war in Afghanistan, where, to the surprise of many, U.S. friends and allies have recently taken up a larger share of the burden of that conflict. Afghanistan has become the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) war, but the war in Iraq has increasingly become only a U.S. and Iraqi struggle.

… The central finding of this study is that U.S. efforts in Iraq were hobbled by a set of faulty assumptions, a flawed planning effort, and a continuing inability to create security conditions in Iraq that could have fostered meaningful advances in stabilization, reconstruction, and governance. It is arguable whether the Iraqis will develop the wherewithal to create ethnic reconciliation and build a coherent national government. It is clear, however, that the United States and its partners have not done enough to create conditions in which such a development could take place. With the best of intentions, the United States toppled a vile, dangerous regime but has been unable to replace it with a stable entity. Mistakes in the Iraq operation cry out for improvements in the U.S. decisionmaking and policy execution systems. In turn, these improvements will require major changes in the legislative and executive branches, as well as in interagency processes.
</code></pre>

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<p>“Since the various factions in Iraq have fought amongst themselves for thousands of years, it’s quite presumptuous of the US to believe it can force peace on Iraqis.”</p>

<p>I think you are talking about the Germans and French, who have killed about a quarter of each other’s population every century for a thousand years. Sunnis and Shias have lived side by side in Iraq, mostly in peace, for a very, very long time, and (before the ethnic cleansing the U.S. is currently presiding over), had a very high rate of intermarriage.</p>

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<p>Is there anything that you didn’t know or was known publicly but didn’t question? </p>

<p>Did the cheese age well in the 5 years?</p>

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<p>Turns out this entire article is huge distortion of the facts…</p>

<p>[Hot</a> Air Blog Archive Miami Herald’s “major debacle”: a lack of journalism](<a href=“http://hotair.com/archives/2008/04/18/miami-heralds-major-debacle-a-lack-of-journalism/]Hot”>Miami Herald's "major debacle": a lack of journalism – HotAir)</p>

<p>[Pentagon</a> Study? Current Events in Iraq? Not so Fast… (SWJ Blog)](<a href=“http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/04/pentagon-study-current-events/]Pentagon”>http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/04/pentagon-study-current-events/)</p>

<p>…the Miami Herald is a joke.</p>

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<p>Here’s a quote from Dick Cheney himself from back in 1994, apparently at a time that he had not yet fully turned to the dark side of “the force”:</p>

<p>"Because if we’d gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn’t have been anybody else with us. There would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq.</p>

<p>Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein’s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you could very easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off: part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west, part of it – eastern Iraq – the Iranians would like to claim, they fought over it for eight years. In the north you’ve got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey.</p>

<p>It’s a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq.</p>

<p>The other thing was casualties. Everyone was impressed with the fact we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had. But for the 146 Americans killed in action, and for their families – it wasn’t a cheap war. And the question for the president, in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad, took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth?</p>

<p>Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right."</p>