"Zinni, who has close ties to Colin Powell and the Oil Shieks, has never been happy with the Iraq foreign policy."
However, I tend to agree with the General, at least to the point where I believe that the execution of the Iraq invasion was poorly handled.
Anyone who's studied Iraq, even for a quick seminar, should've seen lots of these problems coming. Quite frankly, we're finding out why it took a SOB like Saddam to stay in power, much less run the place. The tribal and ethnic rivalries were simmering, and once the lid was off those old scores were bound to be settled. Anyone in their right mind would've seen the Iranian interferance.
I got the feeling going into the war that the Administration was spending almost all of its time thinking about how to win the combat, a little time selling the idea to the American people, and absolutely no time thinking about what life would be like after the combat phase.
Ether we win it and change the course of history for the better. Or, we cut and run like Zinni and others like him are wont to do, and we will have more 9/11's for the foreseeable future.
I personally don't care what anyone thinks or what/who gets broken or killed as long as it is noone in these United States.
Noone is all knowing to the point that they could have predicted what would happen after Saddam was eliminated. He, like Tito, kept the lid on all the factions through multiple means including fear. So the place fell apart. There was nothing there anyway.
3 weeks to Baghdad not short enough for you?
Anyone who's studied Iraq, even for a quick seminar, should've seen lots of these problems coming.
And who says Rumsfeld "didn't see" them coming? Maybe he saw them coming all right but made the (correct) strategic decision to focus on potential problems he deemed to be orders of magnitude larger. As a result we've taken the hill, but we haven't trimmed the bushes on the way up, and so you're chastising Rummy after the fact for failing to "see coming" the fact that the bushes would grow.
The tribal and ethnic rivalries were simmering, and once the lid was off those old scores were bound to be settled.
I tend to agree with you, but now (in case you haven't noticed) your entire comment has become self-nullifying. If the old scores were "bound to be settled" then what difference would it make if Rummy, or anyone, saw them coming, and what sort of "planning" could have possibly made the whole thing better "handled", in your eyes?
I got the feeling going into the war that the Administration was spending almost all of its time thinking about how to win the combat, a little time selling the idea to the American people, and absolutely no time thinking about what life would be like after the combat phase.
That's called "prioritizing", and it's part of what they're supposed to do.
Should have have just assumed they'd win the combat phase, and spent all their time staring at electricity grids?
Of course the administration saw this before they invaded. But they weren't so naive to say it in public.
With Muslim suicide bombers killing other Muslims, dysfunctional Muslim culture is exposed to the light of day. Muslims can no longer scapegoat the West for Islam's own self-inflicted chaos and poverty. In the meantime, a lot of Al Qaeda and other crazies are being killed.
Just be patient.