CSPAN2 12pm - The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End
Peter Galbraith

In a discussion about the book "The End of Iraq," author Peter Galbraith describes America's relationship with Iraq since the invasion in 2003. Mr. Galbraith argues that the U.S. invaded Iraq with the intention of bringing democracy to that country but instead caused a civil war. Mr. Galbraith says Iraq is breaking up into three segments: a pro-western Kurdistan in the north, an Iran-dominated Shiite entity in the south, and a chaotic Sunni Arab region in the center. Book & Books in Coral Gables, Florida hosted this event.

Peter Galbraith is a senior diplomatic fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and performs work on conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. As a former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, Mr.Galbraith negotiated the 1995 Erdut Agreement that ended the war in Croatia. Previously, Galbraith was a professor specializing in national security strategy at the National War College. Mr. Galbraith holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.A. from Oxford University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and is frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. A good review of the book...

The book is a brilliant critique of a bumbling administration and a misguided policy, “another example of ideology trumping reality and common sense.” A year ago, in May, Vice-President Dick Cheney told CNN’s Larry King: “I think they’re in the last throes of the insurgency.” One could use that phrase as a symbol of all that has gone wrong with the Bush administration’s attempt to understand and influence what is going on in Iraq. Galbraith sees an Iraq that is in the middle of a civil war, and who but those who will not see, could disagree?
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/09/08/sunday_am/doc44f5e180168f4762569028.txt

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Created a war and destroyed a country.

MOnkeyboy has failed at everything he has ever attempted, but this is much worse. This is the destruction of a entire country and its people. War crimes indeed.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. on now

kick!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. How to Get Out of Iraq

How to Get Out of Iraq
by Peter W. Galbraith
April 26, 2004 | 1. In the year since the United States Marines pulled down Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad's Firdos Square, things have gone very badly for the United States in Iraq and for its ambition of creating a model democracy that might transform the Middle East. As of today the United States military appears committed to an open-ended stay in a country where, with the exception of the Kurdish north, patience with the foreign occupation is running out, and violent opposition is spreading. Civil war and the breakup of Iraq are more likely outcomes than a successful transition to a pluralistic Western-style democracy.

Much of what went wrong was avoidable. Focused on winning the political battle to start a war, the Bush administration failed to anticipate the postwar chaos in Iraq. Administration strategy seems to have been based on a hope that Iraq's bureaucrats and police would simply transfer their loyalty to the new authorities, and the country's administration would continue to function. All experience in Iraq suggested that the collapse of civil authority was the most likely outcome, but there was no credible planning for this contingency. In fact, the US effort to remake Iraq never recovered from its confused start when it failed to prevent the looting of Baghdad in the early days of the occupation.

the rest is here - http://www.thinkingpeace.com/pages/arts2/arts185.html