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Good Morning, VietNam on
However there is no good exit strategy. Anyone who thinks America is going to fix this country is playing fiction games. Best we can hope to do is warn the Iraqi for our exit in a hope that they will make plans among themselves to avoid a Civil War. IOW up front we must define the exit date - and then let the chips fall where they may.

Those who think somehow we are going to stay and fix things really have no exit strategy other than a solution based upon more status quo. This was the Vietnam reasoning. Obviously this will only be a lose lose strategy - just like Nam. Are they ready to commit 300,000 or 1/2million troops? Unfortunately those who advocate the status quo will not commit to troop numbers and years. Status quo is a no win strategy. Few are even willing (yet) to publically admit to what these former National Security Advisors are saying. Brzezinski and Scowcroft are both well respected for their pragmatic and honest approach to analysis. Neither comes with a political agenda. But what they say will be politically difficult for any politician to endorse. Its not a winning strategy. But it does get America out.

Do you FEEL safer? on 27 Oct 2004 ( also known as fuel for a civil war - so we forget this happened? )
Defects (also called spin) in that Belmont article. The 3rd ID arrived at that location, fought a small battle with Iraqi forces, and then moved on. Pentagon had a UN list of locations that required special protection. This location appears six times on this list for various reasons - [300+ tons of high explosives] was that dangerous. But the 3rd ID was moving to Baghdad - never told what was in that facility. 3rd ID never even tried to verify what was in that facility. They had no orders to look so they did not look. A week later, the 101st also was camped overnight at that facility. They too were never told what was in those bunkers. They intentionally made no attempt to learn.

The Pentagon was informed well before the Iraq invasion where critical equipment and materials were stored. Contrary to what many right wing extremists say, the UN really did know where most everything was stored. UN had placed seals on these bunkers. UN told the Pentagon six reasons why this facility was dangerous. The Pentagon did not protect this and apparently did not protect most facilities on that list. Looting resulted. Again - Pentagon had no plans for the peace - as even stated by former Lt Colonel Macgregor (who advocated the fast 50,000 man attack). Even this Colonel is quite critical of how the administration planned for the peace. Administration completely ignoring principles that would make a small attack force successful. Briana - read MacGregor's long interview so that George Jr cannot keep lying to you. The devil is in the details. But you must read them.

U.S. Helicopters filmed firing into crowd of civilians
from NY Times of 16 September 2004
A classified National Intelligence Estimate prepared for President Bush in late July spells out a dark assessment of prospects for Iraq, government officials said Wednesday.

The estimate outlines three possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst case being developments that could lead to civil war, the officials said. The most favorable outcome described is an Iraq whose stability would remain tenuous in political, economic and security terms.

"There's a significant amount of pessimism," said one government official who has read the document, which runs about 50 pages. ...


How is it that virutally every responsible observer says Iraq is bad and getting worse. Yet the President says things are getting better? He is lying now just as he lied about WMDs. Just as he intentionally connected 11 September with Saddam. ...

Posted are facts. Iraq is going as predicted a year ago because of this administration's 'ideologue based' policies. Furthermore, the president, knowing full well things are bad and will probably get even worse, instead, hypes lies about how Iraq is getting better.

Exit Strategy on 24 May 2004
Another vehicle bombed. More dead westerners. This one near the secure green zone so that reporters could dare to step out and review the damage. First thing noted by Dexter Filkins of the NY Times (interviewed by the PBS Newshour) is how Iraqis show no remorse for those dead. He is quite blunt about how bad Iraqi attitudes have become in only the last three months. So bad that reporters don't even dare leave or go to a border area where a 'wedding party' is said to have been slaughtered by American helicopters.

About the only thing that the Iraqis and Americans agree on is that Americans attacked something and 40 Iraqis are dead. Something like 80% to 90% of the dead were women and children even though Americans say it was an "insurgant" meeting. Maybe. Maybe some insurgants got married. After all, a large majority of Iraqis dislike Americans.

Why has Iraq turned so bad so fast? It was obvious once we eliminated the rhetoric from the White House and its sound bytes - ie Rush Limbaugh. We had 6 month to get it right. Instead we sent in people so mentally deficient as to even disband the Iraqi Army and Police. ...

In many circles of political reporters, there is much speculation as to how much we will drop and back out - in a hope that others can take blame for any impending disaster or civil war. Iraq has become so bad that even reporters could not go out to confirm military reports since most of 2004. Iraqis that much hate foreign occupiers. Of the 2000 reconstruction projects, only 42 remain ongoing. Things are that bad.

Remember back than how many denied reconstruction has all but halted within the first year? Remember those posts trying to claim most American deaths were due to traffic accidents and other non-combat events? Remember even Tobias described a country that was falling apart from the very begining and they had no orders to fix the country?

That was the reality. If the people really so hated Saddam, then that plaza in Baghdad would have been packed with people now that the Americans were clearly in town. They did not celebrate because .... well we have the facts today. We liberated people who did not want to be liberated - because our president lied.

[quote] How obvious was it that the country was being made ripe for a civil war?
Major Concession on 4 Sep 2003
How bad was the administration's plan to end this war? What plan? Why could Saddam restore electricity and other civil services in a month? We can't even restore electricity four months later - and now make silly excuses. What does armour know about infrastructure? Nothing. This administration had no exit strategy nor even a plan how to restore the country. Classic MBA management technique.

But it gets worse. From Washington comes a silly mandate that all Baath party members are to be banned from working. Even Patton confronted that silliness when he was told not to use Nazis. You wanted a job? Then you had sign silly papers and be a Nazi or Baath party member. Do we want the country back in order? Yes. Then Baath party members need be hired. But not according to George Jr and his man Bremer. They are evil. They signed those papers! ... [quote]The NY Times article is quite revealing about why the rest of Iraq is going chaotic.
THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: RECONSTRUCTION; 101st Airborne Scores Success In Northern Iraq on 4 Sept 2003 Section A Page 1

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