Boston Globe: Bush aides admit Iraq missteps

[gristy]

Say estimates on oil revenue, damage off
By Wayne Washington, Globe Staff, 9/9/2003

WASHINGTON -- One day after President Bush gave the nation a cautious view of rebuilding efforts in Iraq, senior administration officials for the first time acknowledged that they vastly underestimated the damage to the country's infrastructure and greatly overestimated the amount of oil revenue that could be used to help rebuild the war-torn country.

Yesterday's sobering assessments came as members of Congress are contemplating Bush's request for $87 billion to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan -- and call into question earlier pronouncements by administration officials about the size and cost of the job.

The disclosures, coming on the heels of Bush's prime-time address, mark the administration's strongest acknowledgment to date that it failed to fully comprehend the complexities of rebuilding Iraq.

Years of neglect by deposed president Saddam Hussein left the country's infrastructure in much worse shape than anyone imagined, one administration official said. And current oil revenue estimates of $12 billion this year and $40 billion in 2005 and 2006 will be less than half what administration officials previously told Congress would be available to offset US costs to rebuild the country.

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Not to mention a decade of sanctions and bombing the crap out of the country!

[Brucey]

1. You mean they didn't blame it on Clintons?

[MuseRider]

2. WTF did they expect?

Years of sanctions and shock and awe. Dumbasses.

[gratuitous]

3. Well, look for Chimpy to go on TV and correct the record

Not! Bwahahahaha!!! I crack myself up, sometimes.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. BULLSHIT..They had CIA in there in 98 and the inspectors in there this

year...how could they NOT KNOW??? This is a crock of shit. If they had people defecting and scientists rolling over and saying weapons were there you mean to tell me NONE OF THEM KNEW???

WHAT CRAP!!!

[BonjourUSA]

5. Don't forget the US ambassy in Bagdad !!

It was hosted by the Poland ambassy.

[chaumont58]

6. You are so right!

It boggles the mind to say they did not know the condition of the infrastructure. The stupid assholes could have asked Hans Blix, he would have told them the truth. They admit every god damn thing but that there were NO weapons of mass distruction. Three hundred GIs are dead, and for what? So Bechtel and Harliburton can reap billions?

[pansypoo53219]

8. oh, they knew

that is why they attacked a country that was BASICALLY DEFENSELESS rather than Iran which actually has an ARMY.

[indepat]

7. A cockamamie

crock of BS.

[MO_Dem]

9. Oh, they knew!

That's why they fired the people who told them the truth (Gen. Chensecki (sp?) and others who told them it would take hundreds of thousands of troops and big, big bucks). Lying liars can't handle the truth from themselves or anyone else.

[are_we_united_yet]

10. This just in...

Bush Aides are full of shit.

[cliss]

11. Well, they may have made some missteps,

but none was so great as the timing of the $$87 billion. Those little connivers waited until the 2nd anniversary of 9/11 to soften the blow, to make it more palatable.

BUT, the shit's gonna hit the fan, right about when SuperBush is hitting the road for his re-election campaign. Their timing couldn't have been worse.

The economy will start teetering (it already is), more unemployment. the interest rate has already started moving upward because of this staggering deficit. There is nothing that will torpedo his plans more than the economy. It's already been spelled out.

So to his dismay, the economy will be at its worst, right as he's hitting the campaign trail.

Bon Voyage!