US had few post war plans

[zbdent]

(Okay, so technically, it might be more than 12 hours old, but it hasn't been posted, at least under the article title)

US Had Few Post War Plans - Akron Beacon Journal

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/

Planning for after the war in Iraq non-existent

By WARREN P. STROBEL and JOHN WALCOTT

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - In March 2003, days before the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, American war planners and intelligence officials met at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina to review the Bush administration's plans to oust Saddam Hussein and implant democracy in Iraq.

Near the end of his presentation, an Army lieutenant colonel who was giving a briefing showed a slide describing the Pentagon's plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war, known in the planners' parlance as Phase 4-C. He was uncomfortable with his material - and for good reason.

The slide said: "To Be Provided."

A Knight Ridder review of the administration's Iraq policy and decisions has found that it invaded Iraq without a comprehensive plan in place to secure and rebuild the country. The administration also failed to provide some 100,000 additional U.S. troops that American military commanders originally wanted to help restore order and reconstruct a country shattered by war, a brutal dictatorship and economic sanctions.

<snip>

[KeepItReal]

1. Fudge Rumsfeld's Pentagon plans...STATE DEPT. had plans and was IGNORED

"Chronic feuding between the State Department and the Pentagon's civilian leadership made the planning process even more difficult, those involved in the process say.

The office of the secretary of Defense largely ignored position papers produced over the past year by the State Department's Future of Iraq program, which brought together about 200 Iraqi exiles to discuss reorganization after the fall of Saddam.

Instead, the Pentagon early this year started a parallel operation with exiles vetted for support for Ahmad Chalabi, an exile leader close to Republican neo-conservatives and distrusted by the State Department."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-07-21-war-aftermath_x.htm

[UpInArms]

2. there is still no "post war" plan - these jerks

are flying by the seats of their poop-laden pants and doing a lousy job.

I despise these freaks of nature and wish they would go and live in a circus outside of our country.

Preferably one that has signed the ICC papers.

[hippiechick]

3. George has never finished ANYTHING he's started ...

... or cleaned up any of his own messes.
So this is a surprise .... why, exactly ? :shrug:



:hippie:

[zbdent]

11. Well, that would explain the rumor about the

need for a fertility clinic to step in regarding the conceiving of the twins . . .

[wishlist]

4. Over and over the things Kerry has been telling us turn out to be true

Kerry's allegations are continually being vindicated and backed up by new info coming out.

[snippy]

5. Kerry should use this in connection with Bush having made no mistakes.

If having no plan for postwar Iraq is not a mistake, what is? If Bush is unable to see that having no plan for postwar Iraq was a mistake, what else is Bush unable to see? The state of the economy and jobs? The problems with healthcare and the price of prescription drugs? The effects of record deficits and a doubling the national debt? I think this line of reasoning would raise some doubt in some voters' minds.

Kerry also should use this in reference to whether Bush will have a postwar plan for his next invasion. Kerry should not ask whether Bush will invade another country, he should just ask whether Bush will have a plan when he does invade another country. He might want to reference Bush's statement about carrying out the republican god's plan to spread freedom throughout the world. I know many voters would be uncomfortable about the thought of the Next Bush War. And the one after that, and the one after that.

[MisterP]

8. They had a plan of sorts: make Iraq a neoconservative, Reagnomics paradise

and it is!
http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html

[TacticalPeek]

6. Kick

:kick:

[grasswire]

7. it was not an accident

The lack of a plan was part of the strategy.

Chaos=money
Chaos insures that U.S. has to stay.
More chaos=more money

[TacticalPeek]

9. A truly excellent article.

Rumsfeld's office "was utterly, arrogantly, ignorantly and negligently unprepared" for the aftermath of the war, said Larry Diamond, who was a political adviser in Baghdad from January to March of this year.

...

Within 48 hours of their arrival in Baghdad in April, some of Chalabi's men, including members of his personal bodyguard force, began taking cars, bank accounts and real estate, said a senior military officer who received reports of the events.

---------------

And I just noticed that the estimable Joe Galloway contributed to this: This report was reported by Knight Ridder's Joseph L. Galloway, Jonathan S. Landay, Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott, with research by Tish Wells.

[floda]

10. great article indeed

Loved to read how Bremer's plan crumbled at the end.:

But if major corporate investors were going to come to Iraq in the future, they would need a stronger guarantee that Bremer’s economic laws would stick. There was only one way of doing that: the Security Council resolution had to ratify the interim constitution, which locked in Bremer’s laws for the duration of the interim government. But al Sistani once again objected, this time unequivocally, saying that the constitution has been “rejected by the majority of the Iraqi people.” On June 8 the Security Council unanimously passed a resolution that endorsed the handover plan but made absolutely no reference to the constitution. In the face of this far-reaching defeat, George W. Bush celebrated the resolution as a historic victory, one that came just in time for an election trail photo op at the G-8 Summit in Georgia.