|
So Mr. Bush FINALLY admitted yesterday to the New York Times for the very first time that "miscalculations" were made concerning our handling of the Iraq situation after the official war.
This seems to be a flip-flop from a previous statement he made at his last formal news conference. When asked if he could name any mistakes he had made, he stood, staring blankly for several seconds, then said he couldn't think of any mistakes his administration had made.
Hmmm....
Mr. Bush also insisted that the 17 month insurgency was the unintended by-product of a "swift victory."
His last statement raises a couple of questions. What gave the president the idea that the U.S. would get mired down in a protracted military offensive, when his father's Gulf War lasted only 48 days? We had, at that time decimated Saddam Hussein's army and negated his ability to become a real threat to the United States. By all accounts his military capabilities, as we headed to war against him in 2003 were not nearly as great. So again I ask what made W think his offensive would take longer? As it turned out, Bush 43"s military offensive lasted a mere 42 days. It should not have come as a surprise to him.
But a more important question comes to mind. Why was there no strategy to secure the peace and quickly stabilize Iraq, once the official war was over? It is the job of the commander-in-chief to ask important questions, then make important decisions BEFORE war is waged. It was his job to review battle plans, then accept or reject them, before a single fighter plane was launched or a single soldier was set forth on the ground. It was also his job to demand from his advisors and military planners a workable post-war plan. No such plan ever existed. This gross negligence has led us to a 17 month long occupation which has cost nearly a thousand American soldiers lives. Such lack of foresight is inexcusable and unforgivable.
For the president to say that he could not have forseen a "swift victory" against a Hussein army which was weaker than the one his father waged war on is disingenuous, to say the least. Such an admission only proves his unworthiness as the leader of the free world.
Joe Fields
|