Iraq -- a year later...

[moe.ron]

Originally posted by DeltAlum

Looking back with 20/20 hindsite one year later...

1) Our armed forces did a magnificent job. Well done!
Agree

2) We were misled and entered the war for the wrong reasons.
Either the inteligence communities in the world are incompetent, or their reports weren't read.

3) Terrorism is as bad or worse (given the past few days) and there were no WMD's discovered.
Iraq has diverted the world's attention from the war on Al-Qaeda.

4) We executed the war exceptionally well and the aftermath exceptionally badly.
Bush Admin. probably felt that Chalabi was going to return to Iraq with an open arm by the Iraqi public. This was not the case as many saw Chalabi as an opportunist crook.

5) We are losing the support of much of the world community -- save Great Britain. Particularly in Europe. A lot of people think that we are a power hungry superpower (According to the Pugh Survey released just this week.) A substantial piece of the Iraqi population blames us for their post war problems. Which is not totally fair -- but is partly, due to number 4 above.
An area of foreign policy that has been ignored for the past decade, public diplomacy.

6) Now that we have committed so much, we must "stay the course" or Iraq will fall back into anarchy.
It is also the responsibilty of the States that started the conflict to ensure that anarchy will not prevail. ultimately, the world must accept the wishes of the Iraqi people, no matter who they picked as their leader

7) Sadaam is gone. That's good. Nobody has filled the vacuum. That's bad.
Look at #4, Chalabi was picked the admin to lead Iraq.

8) This will last a lot longer. Do we have the national willpower?
Dunno, depend on the casualty counts

9) While the economy and employment will continue to be the main issues, this will be a huge factor in this year's elections.
Probably, but ultimately the voters will ask one question, am I better of now then last year

Rambling thoughts on a Thursday morning, one year after war.
Rambling of a man on a Tuesday morning