“We disagree with the characterization. There was significant postwar planning,” David Almacy, a White House spokesman, said.
“More importantly, the memo in question was written eight months before the war began — there was significant postwar planning in the time that elapsed,” he said.
“Some things we prepared for did not happen, like large numbers of refugees needing humanitarian assistance,” Almacy said. “And others we did not expect, such as large numbers of regime elements fleeing the battlefield only to return later.”
The death toll continues to mount from a violent insurgency that has killed hundreds of American troops and Iraqi civilians. The United States, which led the invasion in March 2003, has said it will not pull out until Iraqi forces are trained to take over security for their country.
“Significant postwar planning”
Significant? That’s the best they can do? Then of course they studiously ignored the plans they did have.
“We did not expect…”
Why in the world not? Key words here are “regime” and “elements.” Did you think these guys were going throw flowers at you?
“Not pull out until Iraqi forces are trained…”
Not before hell freezes over, then. See, this, this and this.
And while I haven’t had time to read this long article on torture yet (have printed it out) it sure looks interesting.
Update [2005-6-13 7:45:39 by Athenian]:
The New York Times has a story also intimating how long it will take to get a reliable Iraqi military:
Despite the Bush administration’s insistent optimism, Americans working with the Iraqis in the field believe that it could be several years, at least, before the new Iraqi forces will be ready to stand alone against the insurgents.
[snip]
A few days before the Mahmudiya raids, Iraqi soldiers at a local checkpoint apparently fell asleep in the hours before dawn, and the checkpoint was ambushed by insurgents. They tossed a grenade into the building, then stormed in and executed those left alive, killing at least eight Iraqis, American soldiers said. Since the attack, American troops have been conducting nighttime patrols to make sure the Iraqis stay awake.
[snip]
On several occasions, Sgt. First Class Michael Hanaway admonished the Iraqi soldiers to watch the perimeter instead of staring at the house being raided.
“You’ve got to look that way,” he shouted, motioning. “Not at me. That way.” The sergeant sighed. “They probably shouldn’t have been out here,” he said. Emphasis mine.
when I looked at my yahoo and saw the Reuters article. I was laughing so hard I just had to share.
Was going to do a diary on the three links strung together but I fear I will not have time tomorrow, so I figured I’d just point you at them.
Back in a few hours, must get some sleep.
James Fallows wrote an article in the November 2002 Atlantic titled The Fifty-First State in which he asked experts about postwar planning:
[Paid subs. req’d].
Just so you know there were no surprises among the experts:
I tried hard, but couldn’t laugh. As with torture, they chose to ignore the experts.
I was laughing at the spokesman’s obvious distress and dissembling. Anyone who has been paying attention knows that what plans they did have they flushed down the toilet and fired the people associated with it.
The Brits told them they had no plan and what to expect and they still messed it up. They are like the kid who’s had extra weeks to finish that essay and still claimed that it was eaten by the dog.
Otherwise the whole situation leaves little to laugh about. Read the linked articles if you have time. They paint a very sad picture.
I knew what you were talking about, but wanted to get that link to Fallow’s piece out there. It’s one l-o-n-g article, and the list of experts reads like a who’s who of “nation building” and occupation.
You’re right, sometimes the whole episode makes one burst out laughing.
the three blind mice…and apparently hard of hearing
when it comes to listening to experts. We need to let
some cats loose in d.c. lol
was to smell flowers and eat candy
(Cheney: We will be greeted as liberators, with flowers and candy…) or some such nonsense
That’s what you hope for but that is not a plan. Saddam Hussein was known to be a fan of Marshal Tito and the Yugoslav Resistance. He had a plan and it is being executed faithfully and successfully.
The country was meant to be awash in the most dangerous weapons and yet the US had no plan to secure the arms caches.
The Right keeps on telling us that the only thing the Arabs understand is force and authority and yet we allowed anarchy to reign.
When a competent army executes a putsch or secures an enemy capital, the first things they take control of are the ministries and the means of communication. The only thing the US took control of was the ministry of Oil.
A child could have predicted that disbanding the Iraqi Army would leave hundreds of thousands of angry young men unemployed and vengeful.
or does he admit that they did significant postwar planning before they went to the UN – I mean those 8 months began around July 2002 – even before they started the marketing of the Iraq war.
forgot to add – if they did postwar planning they must have done also war planning!!!
the war planning itself was pretty good. Modern militaries are supposed to plan, even for unexpected scenarios.
One of the saddest things in the whole fracas is that State had produced a detailed plan and had sent over a number of people with a deep understanding of the Iraqi people, their language, culture and history. The plan was ostentatiously dumped and the people fired by the very top of the administration.