Rice: History Will Overlook Administration's "Tactical Errors"

[JABBS]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conceded today that the United States probably has made thousands of "tactical errors" in Iraq and elsewhere, but said it will be judged by its larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East.

The U.S. diplomat met loud anti-war protests in the streets and skeptical questions about U.S. involvement in Iraq at a foreign policy salon Friday, including one about whether Washington had learned from its "mistakes over the past three years."

Rice replied that leaders would be "brain-dead" if they did not absorb the lessons of their times.

"I know we've made tactical errors, thousands of them I'm sure," Rice told an audience gathered by the British foreign policy think tank Chatham House. "But when you look back in history, what will be judged will be, did you make the right strategic decisions."

***

Rice's words, while likely heartfelt, reflect a belief system pervasive throughout the Bush Administration: that the ends justify the means.

The philosophy stems from a belief that Americans will better appreciate the administration's actions 50 years from now than the hypercritical liberal media they disdain discussing their actions today. The administration also believes that most historians will look at the big picture, rather than the administration's mis-steps along the way.

Are those assumptions valid? Consider that most average Americans look at Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency and give him high marks. Historians are more mixed. Some point to our military victories, but others would also point to tactical errors, from newly created domestic programs that failed to spur the economy to a failure to prevent Pearl Harbor to denying European refugees -- including thousands of Jews -- the right to enter the U.S. as fled Nazi Germany.

Fifty or 100 years from now, there may be peace and democracy throughout the Middle East. And average Americans may point to the Bush Administration and say bravo. But will historians come to the same conclusion, or will they see an administration that made thousands of tactical errors in the Iraq War, failed to capture Osama Bin Laden or fully dismantle Al Qaeda -- which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, not Saddam Hussein or Iraq -- trampled on Americans' civil liberties by expanding federal power through the USA Patriot Act and warrantless surveillance, and in spite of a significant propaganda campaign, did little to secure our borders, or improve the security of airports, sea ports, train stations, and chemical and nuclear plants.

Will historians look and say the ends justify the means? Or will they quote basketball coaching legend John Wooden, who once said, "Never mistake activity for achievement."

***

This item first appeared at JABBS.

[saltpoint]

1. Note to Condi: Not all historians grade on the curve.

This administration is toast.

[JABBS]

3. LOL

[karynnj]

13. They get an "F" even on a curve - who was even close

[saltpoint]

16. Hi, karynnj. Sad to say, you're absolutely right. This administration

lied about the motive for assault, bungled the invasion and occupation, and now is fidgeting like 3-year olds to find a way out.

And all along they blamed the liberals, the press, and Old Europe.

Let the historians have at them.

[JABBS]

17. that's their MO

blame everyone else. Don't consider that you've done anything wrong.

Like I said, remember Bush's press conference when he was asked to name a mistake he'd made, and he couldn't think of -- or he was too afraid to admit -- one?

[saltpoint]

19. True. It really is the way they do business. Wrong to start with and

then stubborn about it.

Yikes.

[Virginia Dare]

2. Mmmm mmmm good....

:spray:

[DUgosh]

4. she said hopefully n/t

[Avalux]

5. In other words, the ends justify the means -

In Condi's sick little mind, doesn't matter what was done in process, how many people were killed, how many lies were told. :eyes:

[tanyev]

6. Dear God.

If they are now willing to admit to "thousands of tactical errors", just imagine how much stuff there is that they're not willing to admit.

[yellowcanine]

7. If good intentions and eventual outcome were the yardstick, history

would judge Vietnam a success for Lyndon Johnson. After all, Vietnam is now a stable and prosperous country and not a threat to its neighbors. Who knows what havoc it would have wreaked on its neighbors had the U.S. not fought them for 10+ years? :sarcasm:

Condi Rice knows nothing about history.

[EVDebs]

8. Just one more Republican 'Sleepwalking Through History'

Incompetence, the 'plans' this administration have have all had the same result: massive failure.

What was Einstein's definition of insanity ? Doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting the same result ? Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein's definition fits this administration to a tee.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. If there is peace and democracy in the middle-east in 50 years

it will be despite us, not because of us.

That won't keep the repugs from claiming credit, however, just as they claim credit for the collapse of the Soviet Union - no matter that the USSR was self-destructing, and had been since Stalin's purges.

We claim credit for winning WW2 - but it was the Russians that lost 20 million people, and their armies that smashed the huge Nazi forces in the east, while we were fighting relatively weak forces in N Africa, Italy and France. The Chinese tied down 2/3 of the Imperial Japanese Army while we were rolling up the small strongholds of the Pacific Islands.

We won WWI, even though we only had troops on the ground in Europe for a little over a year, before which the Germans, Austrians, English, French, Russians had all lost millions.

We will ignore history, and ignore the reality on the ground and say whatever we like to make ourselves look good.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. Erroneous tactics don't attain strategic goals

They're screwing up because they're screw-ups.

They can't point to a single tactical success, nor can they clearly articulate an attainable strategic goal.

[Vickers]

11. I thought she was the smart one?

:shrug:

[C_U_L8R]

12. Fine .. But what about all the f*ckups??

And all the deceptions and the crimes and the cronyism and and the hate and the profiteering and the racism and the.....

BUSHIT !

[JABBS]

15. it would be fascinating if a reporter

were able to sit down with Condi and go over just a handful of "tactical errors," and ask why they happened, and what specifically the administraiton learned. Could Condi find an example of the administration doing something differently -- straying from their original strategy -- as a result of a "tactical error."

GWB wouldn't be able to answer that question. Remember his press conference, when he couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong?

Somewhere in Condi, there's honesty screaming to pour out. But she's too disciplined to allow more than the occasional crack in the surface -- her comments today are probably the limit to what we can learn about what she has learned.

[spindrifter]

14. BushCo Incompetence, C*ndi--that's what historians will judge.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. "hey its not our fault" where have I heard that before.

It is never their damn fault.

A moment to deconstruct her little thesis.

"the United States probably has made thousands of "tactical errors" in Iraq and elsewhere, but said it will be judged by its larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East."

thousands of "tactical errors" - it is not the fault of Great Leader, it is the fault of the fools executing Great Leader's plan. Blame the troops. Blame the media. Blame the Democrats. Blame Bill Clinton's Penis. Great Leader is above reproach.

larger aims of peace and democracy in the Middle East - uh sorry but I call bullshit on that. That is not their aim. Their aim can be found in the PNAC documents. The veneer, the cover story of 'bringing democracy', is a sideshow to the overarching goal of establishing an American Hegemony, of establishing a permanent military presence in the Middle East, of having military control of the dwindling supply of Cheap Oil as we enter the Peak Oil Crisis.

And finally Ms Rice, peace is not obtained through wars of aggression. War is obtained through wars of aggression. It is always the excuse of the belligerent aggressor that his goal is peace. You achieve peace by practicing peace. Peace over war.

Now go back to your Beatles pilgrimage and pretend that you share something in common with the spirit of the 60's, you miserable excuse for a human being.

[Supersedeas]

20. see mistakes were made elsewhere too--disregard/trivialize the blood on

*'s hands.