It’s no secret that the Bush administration botched post-invasion Iraq planning, but a 2005 RAND Corp. study detailing those failures has been kept under wraps by the Army, the New York Times reported.
The nonpartisan study found widespread incompetence and lack of coordination among Iraq war planners.
President Bush and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice come in for criticism for failing to resolve agency disputes: “Throughout the planning process, tensions between the Defense Department and the State Department were never mediated by the president or his staff,†the study said. Central Command head Gen. Tommy Franks was found to have a “fundamental misunderstanding†of the military’s role in securing postwar Iraq.
Overall, “there was never an attempt to develop a single national plan that integrated humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, governance, infrastructure development and postwar security,†the study said.
Why was the unclassified report never released?
“The Army leaders who were involved did not want to take the chance of increasing the friction with Secretary Rumsfeld,†said one military official, who asked not to be identified.
50 Comments
It’s so much easier to play armchair Quarterback, isn’t it, Doctor Scholfield? :)
this article is obvious “Liberal” propaganda, we had “Mission Accomplished” on May 1, 2003. Do not let these people fool you! We kicked Iraq’s ass all over the place. The “insurgents” are nothing but the Clinton’s minions pulling shenanigans in order for our greatest President George Walker Bush to look less than he is.
“It’s so much easier to play armchair Quarterback, isn’t it, Doctor Scholfield”
“this article is obvious “Liberal” propaganda, we had “Mission Accomplished” on May 1, 2003. Do not let these people fool you! We kicked Iraq’s ass all over the place. The “insurgents” are nothing but the Clinton’s minions pulling shenanigans in order for our greatest President George Walker Bush to look less than he is.”
The deniers are up early ………. here take your kool aid
Besides no exit strategy, they had no entrance strategy. Is anyone surprised?
Speaking of Iraq, Olmert says “certain that Iran is building nukes”, ‘fool us once,uh…”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080212/ts_nm/israel_germany_iran_dc_2
If there are any lessons to be learned from the boondoggle called Iraq, you can bet, bush will bury them with a classified designation.
Damned non-partisan study, who needs them, just sign me Sen. Roberts!
Speaking of kicking Iraqi ass, the found a new mass grave, them Iraqies are kicking their own asses!
Just think of what we could have acomplished in this country with all the money and resources that we’ve wasted in Iraq.
It is very easy for those armchair soldiers to criticize “war planning”, isn’t it Randy Scholfield?
War planning is making your best guess and then adapting to ever changing conditions which no one can predict.
And why would/should the Army release a report to give fodder to their critics? It was commissioned for the specific reason of identifying problems so they could be corrected.
Dumb.
“The nonpartisan study found widespread incompetence and lack of coordination among Iraq war planners.”
Some posters here speak of “armchair quarterbacks”.
But given the results in Iraq? Wouldn’t that moniker best fit george bush, dick cheney, Don Rumsfled, Paul Wolfowitz, etc.?
How about some honesty and forward thinking on the part of our right wing posters.
(I know. It’s asking alot. Try?)
YOUR candidate John McCain sees US troops in Iraq for 100 years if necessary. What say you cons? Do you sign into that playbook?
Huh? apparently doesn’t know my sarcasm yet.
You nailed it Outlander! The Deceider’s plan was to have No Plan, and play it by ear! Doesn’t matter if he’s tone deaf, does it?
War planning is making your best guess and then adapting to ever changing conditions which no one can predict.
Outlander,
Wouldn’t plans have to be made first to be able to later adapt?
Overall, “there was never an attempt to develop a single national plan that integrated humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, governance, infrastructure development and postwar security,” the study said.
So the plan was what? Go into Iraq, bomb the holy crap out of them, kill as many as possible, doesn’t matter who they are, and then wait for the people–what’s left of them–along the flower-lined streets to worship us?
Well, we did that. So I guess that makes it a success…in somebody’s eyes. Only those flowers were buried under the rubble of buildings and bodies.
Huh? apparently doesn’t know my sarcasm yet.
It was pretty obvious–it was positively dripping. Now I have to change my Bob Dole underwear.
“Why was the unclassified report never released?”
DUH!? The professionals who compiled the report were afraid of hurting the feelings and low self-esteem of the incompetants who did the war – Bush, Chaney, Rumsfield, Powell, Rice and all the rest.
We see instance after instance where professional reports are ‘edited’ by the White House flaks to try to hide reality whenever it conflicts with their ‘beliefs’
Good post, stumper.
The surprise is that anyone could be surprised that
1. BushCo. FUBAR’d the whole operation
and then
2. intimidated the military into burying the report that ennumerated the many ways they FUBAR’d the operation.
It’s classic Bush.
Worst.
President.
Possible.
I saw in another blog where people were calling Anderson Cooper a “liar”, that isn’t the half of it. You aren’t going to convince me that he is off the payroll.
Makes sense pleefer – this places his pro-war cheerleading in perspective.
An examination or investigation on war is a healthy and I believe MANDATORY part of our free democracy.
Whenever politicians send a generation of our men and women into harms way, we need to do a critical self-examination to determine how we got there. How did we get to the point where the blood of our children, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers is left on foreign shores? When their children and grandchildren ask us why – we need to be able to tell them.
The results of this self-examination should be mandatory prerequisite reading before any future elected offical is sworn into office. The goal being to prevent or avoid AT ALL COSTS, the act of war and combat.
A healthy discussion, should include an examination of the historical documents and whateever resources are available to unearth as much factual information we can.
This is not limited to the executive branch, but should also include our congress, our military, and intelligence operations. All played roles.
All share in the responsibility. Before future aggression – all will fulfill their roles again.
Maybe one will stand up and use his office or position to speak out – before men die.
So I applaud the critic of our president. But history is bound to repeat itself – if we do not carefully examine all who played a part. It is easy to blame one man. But that will NOT prevent future wars and unnecessary conflicts.
Lastly, take a moment to reflect BACK on our American history. Our involvement in conflict is not limited to WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. There are literally dozens of times our politicians send Marines, sailors, and soldiers overseas (think Banana wars for one). Remember Haiti?
My point is, examination of our history, will maybe shed some light on how we go to war, for the military, but WHY we went to war for the politicans.
Lastly, let me leave you with a tribute to a generation of men and women who went to one of those wars, made great sacrifice – and are still living the nightmares. They are now graying members of our society. Let’s not them be forgotten, or why they went to war:
http://www.operationmom.org/ToOurParents.html
After World War II, I think we’ve been anxious to find any excuse to go to war. What our government learned is that a nation has economical growth and booms after wars. Now, we’ve run out of real reasons for war, they’ll find a reason, and make sure its a good reason. Maybe our government should grow out of this, like Britan has. There surley has to be a better way to improve our economy and improve relations with the middle east without bombs and assault rifles. I’m sure soldiers lives are worth more than that.
I understand the fight on terrorism is real and necessary, but thats more along the lines of special ops and intelligence gathering, swatting at flies with baseball bats dose not work.
Agreed, WhiteE. No one heeded ole Ike to beware the military industrial complex. Smart man, ole Ike–even if he did get us started in ‘Nam.
Ike did start it, Kennedy wanted to finish it (he’s dead now) and Johnson escalated it (albiet a BIG LIE).
Here’s the WIKI on the Gulf of Tonkin lie to go to Viet Nam.
I’ve said before–Johnson was a helluva senator;stunk as a pres. I guess you get what you pay for: he bought his way into the senate and was given the presidency.
Well it started way back with Truman, but esculated with Ike.
I’m not a Texan and not old enough to remember him as a Senator so I couldn’t disagree with you on that one, but he sure got us into that Viet Nam mess big time. All I know is that he tried to do it again with the USS Liberty.
Thank you, Eagle Beak.
A conservative poster I can respect.
I’m really not old enough to remember him as a senator, either. I was in 2nd grade when Kennedy was shot. I just bow to the expertise of those I know whose word I give a HIGH level of credibility to. I guess he made the senate tap dance, sing, and jump through hoops.
I was barely involved in ‘Nam. Enlisted while I was 16 (kill a commie for mommie, and all that rot), and in the 6 months before I could swear in I did more researching, soul-searching, and wondered, “Wot the snot did I get into???”
I was still in boot camp when Nixon resigned and everything began grinding down. (*whew* dodged that bullet)
No one want to take responsibility for their own actions anymore.
Ask who is responsible for any failure and you get a lot of smoke.
outlander,
Yeah, accountability is so “dumb.”
Being “conservative” means that even when you’re wrong, stridently continuing to insist that you were right.
I thought I was wrong once, it turned out that I was wrong about that.
C’mon, the Iraq war happened years ago. There’s nothing going on there now that involves us. I’m sure if there was anything involving America in Iraq we’d be reading headlines about it in the papers.
The plan was never to leave all along…establish bases to gain more power and control over the Middle East was the agenda all along. We’ve never left Korea, Europe, etc, and we’ll never leave Iraq, either. It IS “mission accomplished”.
Do you remember Zbigniew Brzezinski? Well he wrote this book The Grand Chessboard and he explains why we should NEVER leave Iraq (Eurasia) and control it for American hegemony, forever. It’s not all about oil, it’s about maintaining empire. So Mary is absolutely correct. And you’ll remember that Brzezinsky was the “left’s” darling, Jimmy Carters’, NSA director.
THERE IS ZERO DIFFERENCE!!
I think Brezhinsky referred to influence; not occupation. The former is doable; the latter a recipe for disaster.
The plan was never to leave all along…establish bases to gain more power and control over the Middle East was the agenda all along. We’ve never left Korea, Europe, etc, and we’ll never leave Iraq, either. It IS “mission accomplished”.
Mary has it right, with T’s crossed and I’s dotted.
Maybe someone should’ve listened to some Dale Carnegie tapes.
Situation ethics by the people who feel they should follow their beliefs more. …
There’s name for that.
George WMD Bush – “Stay focused on your beliefs”
And, since his ‘belief’ is that everything in Iraq is just fine, he stays focused on that.
It will not matter what happens. Many of you simply hate Bush, hate this war, and you will use anything you can to further that.
BDS.
Your ability to reasonably discuss war strategy, operation, and planning never existed.
And I guess the same is true of RAND?
And, it could also be said:
It will not matter what happens. Many of you simply love Bush, love this war, and you will use anything you can to further that.
Your ability to reasonably discuss war strategy, operation, and planning never existed.
Ben,
I am pretty sure that what RAND published was pretty reasonable.
The way others are trying to twist that and blow it out of proportion with political rehtoric is not.
Example:
RAND could have said that more planning could have been needed for X.
The liberals with BDS will say that Bush sucks, he didn’t plan enough and killed Americans because of it! Impeach him!
Big difference.
I would be curious to see what the report said, not all the leftwing political hacking of it.
Ben,
That is true, however, if you look at the posts here, you will see that the liberals are anything but reasonable.
You nuts are still carrying on with the “mission accomplished” mantra.
Heck,
Even your last post was taking something Bush said, completely out of context, to bash Bush again.
And you want to talk to me about being reasonable?
#
Ben
Posted February 12, 2008 at 7:31 pm | Permalink
And, it could also be said:
It will not matter what happens. Many of you simply love Bush, love this war, and you will use anything you can to further that.
Your ability to reasonably discuss war strategy, operation, and planning never existed.
—————————————-
That’s why the military has War, Command and Staff colleges to do the heavy lifting.
Or you can be a denier. :)
Regular
Posted February 12, 2008 at 12:39 pm | \l “comment-292421″
I thought I was wrong once, it turned out that I was wrong about that
Regular I got it! :>
I am somewhat torn, a part of me see this as nothing but a waste of time, there is nothing new and has been all in the open for years. It has become pointless in rehashing it all, if by now there has been nothing done after years of facts coming to light. It is so pointless to keep inflaming the public over something that nothing will be done about. Richard Peale special advisor to the DOD in the beginning and till shortly after the invasion argued there was no need for more then Forty five Thousand troops to overcome Saddam’s army and secure the country! That was part of the discussion prewar, when ever Rice or Powell came to Bush after finally getting passed Cheney. They would complain weekly about Rumsfield and his planning or lack there of. About him trying to not only run the invasion by even the parts and role that State would play. Bush would simply ignore them and tell them to work it out amongst themselves and quit bothering him!
Ever since it became obvious that Iraq was not going to be all “flower throwing and kisses” we have been fighting a stalling war, there is no intent to win just wait it out and not let them win.
The only reason I can see to keep rehashing this is to make sure that Bush doesn’t somehow, in his remaining months, con us into another war. The people have short memories, so reminding them occasionally of his lies and misdeeds is necessary.
Hey regular, Yes, there was some prewar planning done by the military. And when they told the bush administration how many troops would be needed in the post operational phase. they were told to stfu and/or fired by the civilians in charge.
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[...] LT Nixon wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptiraq It’s no secret that the Bush administration botched post-invasion Iraq planning, but a 2005 RAND Corp. study detailing those failures has been kept under wraps by the Army, the New York Times reported. … [...]
[...] Randy Scholfield wrote an interesting post today on Keeping Iraq mistakes under wrapsHere’s a quick excerptiraq It’s no secret that the Bush administration botched post-invasion Iraq planning, but a 2005 RAND Corp. study detailing those failures has been kept under wraps by the Army, the New York Times reported. … [...]
[...] WE Blog » The Wichita Eagle Editorial Department Blog wrote an interesting post today on Keeping Iraq mistakes under wrapsHere’s a quick excerptKeeping Iraq mistakes under wraps Posted6:05 a.m. It’s no secret that the Bush administration botched post-invasion Iraq planning, but a 2005 RAND Corp. study detailing those failures has been kept under wraps by the Army, the New York Times reported. The nonpartisan study found widespread incompetence and lack of coordination among Iraq war planners. President Bush and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice come in for criticism for failing to resolve agency disputes: “Throughout t [...]
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