[RowansDad]

Interesting quote from a fellow at that America-hating higher ed joint, the Hoover Institute:

"We blatantly failed to get it right," said Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution who served as an adviser to the occupation authority. "When you look at the record, it's impossible to escape the conclusion that we squandered an unprecedented opportunity."

And a sad juxtuposition for the liberators:

"In many ways, the occupation appears to have transformed the occupier more than the occupied. Iraqis continue to endure blackouts, lengthy gas lines, rampant unemployment and the uncertain political future that began when U.S. tanks rolled into Baghdad. But American officials who once roamed the country to share their sense of mission with Iraqis now face such mortal danger that they are largely confined to compounds surrounded by concrete walls topped with razor wire. Iraqis who come to meet them must show two forms of identification and be searched three times."

Full story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

 

[chicagomom]

And as the date grows near the US and CPA are ramming through as many multi-year contracts and obligations as possible, which will constrain any new government and may not even be legal.

It's a big land grab. I feel sorry for the Iraqi government ministers who inherit this mess.

 

[RachelGS]

At the rate at which they're being assassinated, their burden is short-lived. What an impossible disaster we've created.

 

[RowansDad]

Second of three part series in the Post:
An Educator Learns the Hard Way

This a particularly rich section:

"He knew next to nothing about Iraq's educational system. Even after he was selected, he did not pore through a reading list. "I wanted to come here with as open a mind as I could have," he said. "I'd much rather learn firsthand than have it filtered to me by an author." He did a Google search on the Internet. The result? "Not much," he said.

"His training from the Defense Department was no more extensive. "They taught me how to put on a gas mask, how to get the helmet snug, how to button up your flak jacket," he said. "That's it."

"None of that fazed him. He assumed, he said, that Iraq would feel like a newly liberated East European nation, keen to embrace the West and democratic change."

Assigning a politically connected academic who doesn't know beans about the region, let along the university system he is supposed to be advising...sounds like crackerjack planning, doncha think?

Full story here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

 

[TiredX2]

uke

 

[RowansDad]

Hoo man, it gets better:

"All of which made the 24-year-old an unlikely pick for the difficult task of rebuilding Iraq's shuttered stock exchange. But Mr. Hallen, a private-sector development officer for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, was given the job immediately after arriving in Baghdad in September..."

"In early November, Mr. Hallen traveled to Baghdad's Hamra Hotel for a lunch meeting with Luay Nafa Elias, who runs an investment company here. Mr. Elias says he was expecting to meet a middle-age man and therefore was astonished to see the baby-face Mr. Hallen sit down at the table and order a plate of kabobs. "I had thought the Americans would send someone who was at least 50 years old, someone with gray hair," says Mr. Elias.

"As the lunch continued, Mr. Elias found himself impressed by Mr. Hallen's confident tone and his repeated promises to quickly open a stock market that is the envy of the Arab world.

"Mr. Elias's faith in Mr. Hallen, however, began to evaporate when the market's opening was delayed without explanation, first to the middle of this month and then into February. "Maybe someone older and more experienced could have gotten this done on time," Mr. Elias says."

Full story here: http://www.collegejournal.com/global...2-dreazen.html

A 24 year old kid? That's the best Dubya Inc. couls do? Is it any wonder that Iraqis have no confidence in the US? It sounds like some idiotic movie that Michael J. Fox woulda starred in in the 90s.

 

[RowansDad]

Then there is that run-of-the-mill "kill and Iraqi during a raid, clumsily hide his body, and pretend your taking him for questioning" story that makes you wonder 'what were these guys thinking' and is it any wonder that these folks want us outta there yesterday:

"An hour later, family members recalled, the soldiers led a hooded man from the house and told the family they were arresting Bawi. Only after the soldiers left with what appeared to be a prisoner did Bawi's brother find his bloodied body, shot five times and stuffed behind a refrigerator underneath a pile of mattresses.

"The US Army is investigating the shooting, and admits that Bawi was shot and killed by an American when, according to the soldiers involved, he tried to seize a soldier's weapon.

"Bawi's slaying during the kind of routine night raid that is the military's bread-and-butter counterinsurgency tactic raises questions about the control and supervision of soldiers on those raids, and the reliability of the local informants whose tips are often behind the arrest lists."

Full story here: http://www.boston.com/news/world/art...family?mode=PF

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RowansDad A 24 year old kid? That's the best Dubya Inc. couls do? Is it any wonder that Iraqis have no confidence in the US? It sounds like some idiotic movie that Michael J. Fox woulda starred in in the 90s.

I agree, I wonder if he picked someone that might just screw up on purpose for some reason that we don't know of yet. What a flipping mess.

 

[Els' 3 Ones]

Note the silence from the right...........................I don't think they even open these threads!

 

[RowansDad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Els' 3 Ones Note the silence from the right...........................I don't think they even open these threads!

Probably not. But it might help them learn why this has happened:

Bush Loses Advantage in War on Terrorism

"Exactly half the country now approves of the way Bush is managing the U.S. war on terrorism, down 13 percentage points since April, according to the poll. Barely two months ago, Bush comfortably led Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, by 21 points when voters were asked which man they trusted to deal with the terrorist threat. Today the country is evenly divided, with 48 percent preferring Kerry and 47 percent favoring Bush."

Oh well, on to the next Dubya Inc. screw-up:

"Inside the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority, which will dissolve with the handover on June 30, some officials express doubts that Iraq's political system will conform to the American blueprints. "Will this develop the way we hope it will?" a CPA official involved in promoting democracy said. "Probably not....""

"Yet these uncertainties are overshadowed by the imminent threat of violence. Local council members who once welcomed constituents into their homes now keep armed guards at the front gate. Leaders of the national government travel in armored vehicles and work inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, an area off-limits to ordinary Iraqis. Many foreign contractors hired by the U.S. government to promote democracy have either relocated to Kuwait or hunkered down in protected compounds."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

Security, security and security. All the polls of Iraqis since the fall of Saddam's regime have shown that this was one of the most important things that Iraqis wanted. Thanks to Dubya Inc.'s "do it on the cheap" policy from the get-go, Iraqis never had a sense that their security meant much to this administration and the occupation force.

 

[RowansDad]

Remember all the back-slapping Dubya Inc. mooks were giving themselves about giving more rights to Iraqi women folk....:
Where are the women in the new Iraq?

"Dr. Raja Khuzai, one of three women on the now-defunct 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, advocated the appointment of at least one woman to the executive quartet designed by UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, composed of a prime minister, president, and two vice presidents. The Iraqi interim constitution recommends that women fill at least a quarter of the seats in the future National Assembly, and Khuzai reasonably expected the executive branch to reflect the same 25 percent goal. "This is the only way we can encourage women to participate," she said. "Otherwise they'll think it's only promises."

"None of the members of the executive quartet, however, are women. The Governing Council appears to have hijacked the appointment process, installing many of its own political members, including new Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Women have been appointed to only six of the 30 Cabinet posts, which is a modest increase from the three sitting on the Iraqi Governing Council, but still short of the 25 percent goal. Yet there is more than enough talent among professional women in Iraq to fill at least a quarter of the seats."

Column here: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/edi...w_iraq?mode=PF

To quote Sonny & Cher "...and the beat goes on..."