[prairiebreeze]

"Our principal mistake, in my opinion, was that we didn't manage to work closely with the Iraqis before the war, so that there was an Iraqi opposition capable of taking charge immediately," he said.

Huh? Is he proposing that more TIME would have been beneficial?? How long would he keep the troops sitting out in the ocean or in Kuwait? And just who are these Iraqi's we should have worked with? Betcha they would have stepped right up to the plate and helped us with Uday and Queasy and the Old Man looking over their shoulder. Hmmph!!

Prairie

[MizSterious]

Remember this is Reuters. I'd like to see some confirmation that this is what he said.

[cake_crumb]

We had no chance to really "work" with the Iraqi people before toppling Saddam. We could only slip so many agents in without their being detected, and Saddam sure wouldn't have given permission if asked if we could please send 22,000 agents in to work with the Iraqi people.

Something tells me he might not have said these things QUITE as Reuters spins them.

[Indianer]

I don't see that he said more time would have been beneficial. In fact, he criticizes Chirac for seeking more time. He says more communication with the Iraqis who were to provide leadership for a new government would have been beneficial.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon (news - web sites) adviser and architect of the U.S. war to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said the United States had made mistakes in Iraq (news - web sites) and that power should be handed over to the Iraqis as fast as possible."

In an undertaking of this magnitude, there are bound to be mistakes and unforeseen developments, so this is hardly a revelation or even news. As for turning over power to the Iraqis ASAP, this has always been the plan and still is. Once again, this is not news.

[Shermy]

Rearm most of the army. Tell them the truth that the instability is caused by Saudi and Iranian interference at top wanting to keep Iraqi power down, Iraqi oil offline, and Saudi and Iranian oil prices up. The religious propaganda is just cover for the real interests at play. The Iraqis will understand when explained they're not getting their fair share. Both Saddam and their neighbors want to keep them down.

We're spending our own billions instead of using the Iraqi oil for reconstruction as previously promised. In turn we are subsidizing Saudi and Iran and OPEC with more billions at the same time with higher oil prices and higher percentages of overall OPEC production quota. Saudi/Iran's expense in "strategic" oil disruptions has brought them immense profits in return.

[Paleo Conservative]

If we half-assed prepared for all possible contigencies, we might not have been well prepared against the worst ones. The important capability is to be able to adapt rather than to adhere to a rigid script. It is impossible with finite time and budget constraints to be completely prepared for all possible contingencies.

[RightWhale]

power should be handed over to the Iraqis as fast as possible.

Everything is moving forward expeditiously.

[zarf]

Looks like the policy is shifting, this is a major trial baloon.