Posted on 01/29/2006 12:26:35 AM PST by neverdem
THE persistence of the insurgency in Iraq has divided America in a way not seen since Vietnam. Now the blame game among the principals has begun. The former presidential envoy to Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, has written in his new memoir that he informed President Bush that the military did not have "a strategy to win."
Quite. The lesson the Pentagon should learn from Iraq is to avoid another L. Paul Bremer. This is less a reflection on Mr. Bremer, who accurately described himself as "the American viceroy" in Iraq and "the president's man," than on the position he and the American military commanders in Iraq were placed in by the White House's failure to put one person in charge.
In 1967, when confusion among military and civilian officials in Vietnam was undermining the war effort, President Lyndon B. Johnson placed all civilian reconstruction and security functions under the top general, William Westmoreland, insuring unity of command under Westmoreland's successor Creighton Abrams. Confronting similar confusion in Iraq, President Bush unfortunately assigned to the military the responsibility for security but gave Mr. Bremer the authority to shape, recruit, train and finance the Iraqi military and police.
Mr. Bremer writes that he believed the Iraqi military should not "have internal security duties" and that the police should be trained by American civilians. But not enough civilians ever arrived to do the job. Mr. Bremer was unable to design a strategy for building up the Iraqi military and police. This failure extended the period in which the American military had to do the fighting while also taking over the training of both Mr. Bremer's new army and the police.
This disunity of command reached its tragic apex in the spring of 2004, during what Mr. Bremer calls "the most critical crisis of..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oh, I see...Iraq is just like Vietnam. Wow, the NYT is brilliant with their analyses.
Who is this Bing West? Sounds like a RAT.
Bing West is a brillant man and his analysis of the mistake of hiring Bremer was spot on. Bremer was a total failure in every possible way.
He also has a great book. No True Glory the Battle for Fallujah.
According to the article he's on the PBS news hour. Never a good sign. If he's such a brilliant man, why is he being so critical?
Pinch must be passing the bong over there. They still think its the last century.
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, like its predecessor The McNiel - Lehrer News Hour, almost always presents both sides of any topic for discussion, unlike the rest of the MSM.
If he's such a brilliant man, why is he being so critical?
If the shoe fits, wear it.
ping
"If he's such a brilliant man, why is he being so critical?"
Did that question actually make sense in your head? How does being 'brilliant' prevent someone from articulating when they have seen faults in someone's performance? It's fairly widely recognised that there were serious flaws in Bremer's management in Iraq.
What Iraq needed back then was military government and a MacArthur. Instead it got the CPA and Bremer.
Hindsight is once again the clearest way to see something
All Vietnam, all the time....
Junk like this is the reason why NYTs stock is going down.
Imagine working for the NYSlimes and having to think up such drivel for your paycheck.
I won't type what I'm thinking about what you said. What I will say is that our Marines that fought for us in Falluja, all of them the ones that lived, died, and were just injured did an OUTSTANDING JOB for AMERICA. The times and west can take this book to the outhouse and use it for what its purpose really is. These are my feelings and if you don't like them I don't care. This Airman is standing with my Brothers the Marines and the Navy Corpsmen that got the job done.
"I won't type what I'm thinking about what you said. What I will say is that our Marines that fought for us in Falluja, all of them the ones that lived, died, and were just injured did an OUTSTANDING JOB for AMERICA."
Well, I can't say I've read the book in question, but nothing in the article linked suggests that it says anything contrary to what you believe.
I have read jmc1969's post that you are replying to and honestly cannot see where you think he has done so either.
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