secret memo shows administration not prepared for occupation

[dajoki]

and now we are paying the price. we should have never went into iraq in the first place. but they did and without any plan on how to get out or at least make it secure.

WP 8/18/05 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/17/AR2005081701974.html?referrer=email

One month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, three State Department bureau chiefs warned of "serious planning gaps for post-conflict public security and humanitarian assistance" in a secret memorandum prepared for a superior.

The State Department officials, who had been discussing the issues with top military officers at the Central Command, noted that the military was reluctant "to take on 'policing' roles" in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The three officials warned that "a failure to address short-term public security and humanitarian assistance concerns could result in serious human rights abuses which would undermine an otherwise successful military campaign, and our reputation internationally."

Jay M. Garner, the first post-invasion administrator, was told of the issues in the memo, its authors said.
The Feb. 7, 2003, memo, addressed to Paula J. Dobriansky, undersecretary for democracy and global affairs, came at a time when the Pentagon was increasingly taking over control of post-invasion planning from the State Department. It reflected the growing tensions between State Department and Pentagon officials and their disparate assessments about the challenges looming in post-invasion Iraq.

The question of whether the United States planned adequately for the post-invasion occupation echoes today, as the insurgency continues to challenge U.S. policy in Iraq. Many senior State Department officials are still bitter about what they see as the Pentagon's failure to take seriously their planning efforts, particularly in the "Future of Iraq" project.

[tanyev]

1. Extensive planning was done, however, in ways to avoid

suffocation from all of the flowers they believed would be showered upon them.

[indepat]

2. Actions based solely on ideology are often precursors to disasters: that

supporters seemingly don't care or are blind to this, while mind-boggling, is a given.

[Nite Owl]

3. They planned to invade for years

though is what we heard. And yet no plan for security or leaving? So is this chaos what they really wanted to perpertuate a forever war?

[dajoki]

4. all they accomplished...

was to make a haven for terrorists and get alot of people killed.