Secrets of Failure
I wasted an hour or two this morning listening to the Sunday AM talk. An array of politicians and generals seem (finally!) to have absorbed the lesson that things are going very badly. All, though, and especially the military guys, keep making the same idiotic mistake: thinking that some kind of "standing up" an Iraqi army is a solution, as if some amount of training and equipment is suddenly going to make these soldiers loyal to a government that doesn't really even exist. We don't even have a puppet government there, merely a figurehead, and a collection of interests pursuing their own mutually hostile agendas. Oddly enough, the two who came closest to understanding this were two of the right-wing crackheads who got us into this mess (George Will and Bill Kristol).
Nobody involved seems to have a clue as to what makes for a stable state, especially a stable state in a land bitterly divided. Let me just mention a few basics: a) a monopoly on the use of force, b) Unifying principles, c) A mutual bargain between the government and the citizenry, a quid pro quo, d) Clear lines of authority.
The US understood this in Germany and Japan after WW II, but failed miserably in this regard in Vietnam and Iraq.
The stupidity of Bush and Cheney is the American peoples fault. The ignorance of American Generals is an institutional fault. West Point, and the other service academies and schools, need to start serving up some history on the successful occupations of WW II and the catastrophic failures of Iraq and Vietnam.
Nobody involved seems to have a clue as to what makes for a stable state, especially a stable state in a land bitterly divided. Let me just mention a few basics: a) a monopoly on the use of force, b) Unifying principles, c) A mutual bargain between the government and the citizenry, a quid pro quo, d) Clear lines of authority.
The US understood this in Germany and Japan after WW II, but failed miserably in this regard in Vietnam and Iraq.
The stupidity of Bush and Cheney is the American peoples fault. The ignorance of American Generals is an institutional fault. West Point, and the other service academies and schools, need to start serving up some history on the successful occupations of WW II and the catastrophic failures of Iraq and Vietnam.
Well said.
ReplyDeleteBush the W (W does not stand for wisdom), guided by his 'God-given destiny', went into Iraq thinking he and his team were as smart as those in post-WW2 era. The generals thought this was going to be as fun as Gulf War I. Just apply a bit more 'shock & awe' technology, then sit and wait for the kisses as the Great Liberator, ready to come home to sign those juicy book deals by 2004. And according to the neocon think tank, the mighty lone Superpower just need to push a button to turn one of the Axis of Evil into a hungry pussy cat, ready to play the American money game.
What drove so many grown men to do stupid things?
Bush the W place in history is almost secured, along side LBJ, JC. The History Channel is preparing to film 'Great Blunder of 21st Century'. I can hear the narrative ' ... GW Bush single-handedly blew up Iraq, made a winner out of Iran without firing a single shot, discredited US intelligence as the laughing stock of the world, exposed the Achilles Heal of the mighty US military for all to see, and plunged the US into financial decline after spending half a trillion dollar on the enterprise without a return...'
anon,
ReplyDeleteI would be quite surprised if W manages to rank with JC and LBJ. I'm thinking Buchanan or less - well below Nixon, LBJ, and Carter, each of whom had some positive accomplishments.
Watching Larry King interviewed Jimmy Carter yesterday, I am reminded that Carter did leave behind two major accomplishments: a long lasting Israel-Egypt peace (for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize), 2) impressive public work for the good of mankind after he left office. One can also cite the two dozen books.
ReplyDeleteI would find it unthinkable that Bush #2 winning the Nobel prize, or write a book. After spending so much capital on Iraq his needs a biblical miracle. But since he knows God has given him this mission, the appropriate miracle will surely come. Sort of like string theory.