Saturday, May 15, 2004
Amateurs
New Hersh. He quotes from an internal study prepared for the U.S. Military:
'Their ability to attack convoys, other vulnerable targets and particular individuals has been the result of painstaking surveillance and reconnaissance. Inside information has been passed on to insurgent cells about convoy/troop movements and daily habits of Iraqis working with coalition from within the Iraqi security services, primarily the Iraqi Police force which is rife with sympathy for the insurgents, Iraqi ministries and from within pro-insurgent individuals working with the CPA’s so-called Green Zone. '
'The study concluded, “Politically, the U.S. has failed to date. Insurgencies can be fixed or ameliorated by dealing with what caused them in the first place. The disaster that is the reconstruction of Iraq has been the key cause of the insurgency. There is no legitimate government, and it behooves the Coalition Provisional Authority to absorb the sad but unvarnished fact that most Iraqis do not see the Governing Council”—the Iraqi body appointed by the C.P.A.—“as the legitimate authority. Indeed, they know that the true power is the CPA.”'
Let's contrast, for a moment, the work ethic of the Iraqis participating in the resistance and that of the CPA. Quite frankly, the U.S. are amateurs at this game in comparison to the Iraqis. On the one hand, the Iraqis are willing to do the grunt work required to carry out successful missions. On the other, the United States hasn't taken the time, put in the work, to ensure that their mission is successful. If this were sports (and it's not, it's not my intention to make light of the situation by using this comparison) then we all know which team would be winning. It's not sports, but it's easy to see which team is winning, and will win. The same issues have affected U.S. operations for decades; when the U.S. assumes that it can win by virtue of its ideals ("democracy") or just because it's the U.S., it loses. CIA operations, wars, diplomatic efforts -- all of these have failed when put in the hands of amateurs (read Hersh's article and note how little experience the folks in charge really have). Many examples can be cited from around the world of U.S. operations that were given short shrift and failed as a result.
Andrew 1:07 PM : |
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