Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco

Sad but true. Entering a war with dishonorable motives (i.e., lying about WMD and then changing war goals to nation building and establishment of democracy) only gets the imperialist into more trouble. Fortunately for the US, it had enough money to get through this little bush war, but imagine what one trillion dollars could do to alleviate poverty and ignorance in America over the past eight years. The American political class has the farsightedness of a common mole. Frank Wallis explored similar themes in his _Iraq 2003: Causes and Consequences of an Imperial Expedition_ (Editions Tour Blanche, 2007). ISBN: 978-0963833211.

To foster partnership and enhance legitimacy, the Future of Iraq Project (FOIP) tried to engage Iraqis representing the country's diverse ethnic and religious groups. However, it was clear from the beginning that empowering Iraqis was antithetical to the Pentagon's goal of pushing Chalabi into power (faster?). Advocates of military action grew increasingly concerned that further planning would reveal difficulties and weaken the case for war. Defense believed that after a brief transition period, authority could be handed to an interim government dominated by Iraqi exiles (subsequently strongly resented by Iraqis). After dismantling the Ba'ath party, Iraq's technocrats would transfer their loyalties for a new administration and function like before. The cost of reconstruction would be paid almost entirely from oil revenues. Iraqis could not believe that the formidable U.S. military was able to vanquish Saddam's Republican Guard yet lacked the capabilities to prevent looting and control civil strife. More than any other factor, the coalition's inability to curtail the escalating violence poisoned Iraqis against the U.S. and turned the "liberation" into an "occupation." General Garner was sent into Iraq prior to Bremer and just after the invasion for humanitarian assistance. Garner did not even learn about the FOIP until just before he left the U.S. He also desperately needed qualified staff. Though wanting to incorporate parts of the FOIP into his planning, he was prohibited from using many of those involved in its construction and leadership. Then, in came Ambassador Bremer, with his own inexperienced team. Of the 1,147 Americans employed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), only 34 were Foreign Service Officers. Bremer then made a series of catastrophic decisions that compounded problems. While the Future of Iraq Project anticipated that war criminals in the Iraqi armed forces and intelligence services would be prosecuted, it envisioned untainted elements working in partnership with coalition. When Bremer disbanded the army and then failed to pay the salaries and pensions of army personnel, he transformed 400,000 Iraqis and their families from potential partners into antagonists. Then, instead of targeting individuals (many/most had simply joined because it was a requirement for a job), Bremer's de-Ba'athification simply made the civilian government unmannable. Still another major error was Bremer's ignoring Ayatollah Sistani (this was going to be a secular government) - and subsequently being backed down regarding forming the Constitution without representatives elected by the Iraqis. So writes David Phillips in his Introduction to "Losing Iraq." Phillips involvement had been in the Future of Iraq Project - upon realizing that it was to be ignored, he resigned. At the end of his book he declares that "Iraq's future is uncertain." It still is.

"Losing Iraq" is a work of great value to all Americans, and will find its place in history after the dust settles and historians have at their leisure decided whether America's dignity was more offended by what was incurred or by what was avoided in our so-called "war on terror." A passage from Sir Winston Churchill seems to speak to the point more directly than do the words of today's leaders. Beware the well-intentioned mistakes of our ancestors. The following is from "The River War," Churchill's first hand account of the military campaign to "retake" the Sudan from Islamic extremists -- What enterprise that an enlightened community may attempt is more noble and more profitable than the reclamation from barbarism of fertile regions and large populations? To give peace to warring tribes, to administer justice where all was violence, to strike the chains off the slave, to draw the richness from the soil, to plant the earliest seeds of commerce and learning, to increase in whole peoples their capacities for pleasure and diminish their chances of pain --- what more beautiful ideal or more valuable reward can inspire human effort? The act is virtuous, the exercise invigorating, and the result often extremely profitable. Yet as the mind turns from the wonderful cloudland of aspiration to the ugly scaffolding of attempt and achievement, a succession of opposite ideas arise. Industrious races are displayed stinted and starved for the sake of an expensive Imperialism that they can only enjoy if they are well fed. Wild peoples, ignorant of their barbarism, callous of suffering, careless of life but tenacious of liberty, are seen to resist with fury the philanthropic invaders, and to perish in thousands before they are convinced of their mistake. The inevitable gap between conquest and dominion becomes filled with the figures of the greedy trader, the inopportune missionary, the ambitious soldier, the lying speculator, who disquiet the minds of the conquered and excite the sordid appetites of the conquerors. And as the eye of thought rests on these sinister features, it hardly seems possible for us to believe that any fair prospect is approached by so foul a path.

A nagging question hovers in the air over this volume, regarding Bush and the Pentagon - "How On Earth Did They Get Away With It?". Phillips gives us a seasoned expert's analysis of the complexities and hard work of nation-building, and documents the blunders and missed opportunities of an American Administration long on faith and need for control but short on fact-based analysis and thinking-in-depth. Phillips was one of the talented nation-doctors shunted to the sidelines while the barbershop crowd busied themselves with leeches and bleeding. This book will figure prominently when We The People finally do a "lessons learned" study of the Iraq adventure and what went wrong.

Did you know that there was a plan for occupying Iraq? This plan was hatched in 1998. But President Bush ignored it because the neocon cabal told him to. Mistake after mistake was made and our soldiers have paid the price, as well as our taxpayers. Eight billion dollars is unaccounted for in the reconstruction efforts. But, our media cannot be critical of the president. We're in a time of war, right? Republicans who support this president, you have no credibility. If it had been a Democrat who misled the public to start a war, a Democrat who did not know about the different Iraqi factions, a Democrat who was at the helm when 9-11 came down, a Democrat who OKed violating the Geneva Convention and a Democrat who sent our kids off to die as an "experiment," you would be calling for his impeachment. To you, being Republican is a religion - a religion that is anti-intellect and entirely in the realm of faith over reason. And your hatred of the enemy (Democrats) has clouded your judgement and any shred of reasoning capability you once held. No wonder you hate a book that basically says your worship of President Bush is contrary to facts. Someday, you will grow up and become less emotional and more rational. You might even become an ex-Republican like me!