We have another leaked British memo showing even a larger history of problems with the Iraq War. The memo is being reported in the Guardian today:
Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.
John Sawers, Mr Blair’s envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street in May and June 2003 cataloguing US failures. With unusual frankness, he described the US postwar administration, led by the retired general Jay Garner, as “an unbelievable mess” and said “Garner and his top team of 60-year-old retired generals” were “well-meaning but out of their depth”.
How many more leaked memos must come out before we will demand answers? This is not as devastating as the Downing Street Memos but it is still very bad news. It just adds further proof to the fact that Bush looks at our soldiers and the lives of the Iraqi’s as dispensable.
The article highlights some serious problems. They are:
· A lack of interest by the US commander, General Tommy Franks, in the post-invasion phase.
· The presence in the capital of the US Third Infantry Division, which took a heavyhanded approach to security.
· Squandering the initial sympathy of Iraqis.
· Bechtel, the main US civilian contractor, moving too slowly to reconnect basic services, such as electricity and water.
· Failure to deal with health hazards, such as 40% of Baghdad’s sewage pouring into the Tigris and rubbish piling up in the streets.
· Sacking of many of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party, even though many of them held relatively junior posts.
The first one is of particular interest. I got a feeling Tommy Franks wasn’t the only one suffering from ADD on that matter. It seems like everyone from Bush on down focused on one thing only – how much money they could make for their buddies. It has already been uncovered that there was a plan designed for dealing with a post invasion Iraq. That plan cost millions to develop and had hundreds of experts help write it. Bush and Rumsfeld just totally ignored it. Paul Brehemer even acknowledged this and nothing was done.
Every citizen of this country should be demanding a full investigation into this war. Every other war out country has gone through experienced oversight. This one should be no different. Perhaps the chicken hawk Republicans would look differently at this if it was their loved ones over their dying. Pat Robertson called the Muslims satanic yesterday. Hell satanic is defined by the party he supports.