There is a bottom line to the 10 year anniversary of the the Iraq war. In short we made a big, a very big mess. We made changes as to how our military works particularly as to supplying forces in the field that haunt us to this day.
An Army Marches On Its Stomach
Napoleon (or Frederick the Great) once said "An army marches on its stomach". Actually, what Napoleon liked to say was "C'est la soupe qui fait le soldat" which means it's the soup that makes the soldier. And this was mainly because that's what Napoleon's army had to eat -- soup. The soup was made of meat (beef, preferably) and salt, and whatever vegetables were in season (onions, cabbage, turnips, etc.). The main emphasis being that what soldiers eat contributes to their ability to persevere in combat day after day.
Once a formidable military power, it is questionable the US Army could operate successfully in a conflict against a modern equipped formidable opposition with the likes of a Halliburton bringing up the rear with greed as its sole motivator to supply the front line.
The invasion, which undoubtedly tried to mimic the stunning success of General Norman Schwarzkopf in 1991, dashed to Baghdad and in a glaring oversight and negligence bypassed the Iraqi ammunition dumps that were later to supply the insurgents with IED materials that were responsible primarily for the tens of thousands of deaths and permanent injuries to the troops.
The occupation itself was the classic bureaucratic bungling by political appointed hacks while the true experts were silenced and muscled aside by the Bush administration and the complicit media. And the cost in dollars and cents? Three trillion and counting and that buys a lot of college degrees.
10 Years On, Paul Wolfowitz Admits U.S. Bungled in Iraq
THE SUNDAY TIMES - The former deputy Pentagon chief, Paul Wolfowitz, a driving force behind the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, has conceded that a series of blunders by George W. Bush’s administration plunged Iraq into a cycle of violence that “spiraled out of control”.
In an interview with The Sunday Times to mark the 10th anniversary of the Iraq invasion, he said there “should have been Iraqi leadership from the beginning”, rather than a 14-month occupation led by an American viceroy and based on “this idea that we’re going to come in like [General Douglas] MacArthur in Japan and write the constitution for them”.
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Iraq 10 Years Later: The Deadly Consequences of Spin
MOTHER JONES - Those who questioned the case for war have won the fight over history. But that won’t bring back the tens of thousands of lives lost.
The months preceding the invasion of Iraq was a lonely time in Washington for journalists questioning the justifications for the war, wondering aloud why the Bush-Cheney crowd would not give the WMD inspections under way a chance, and suggesting that there might be alternatives. It was impossible to ensure a serious and somber debate about going to war and the alternatives. Yet though they got the war they craved, the Iraq War crowd has lost the battle over the history.
The war was no self-financing cakewalk, and it is now widely regarded as a mistake, costly in blood and treasure, that was sold to the American public with falsehoods. The invasion did not usher in a progressive era in the Middle East. (Suck on that, Mr. Friedman.) Iraq remains a mess. The Iraq War boosters have moved on to other enterprises and contentions, yet, 10 years later, they have had their assertions measured against reality, and they have been proven wrong and misguided. None of that, though, will bring back the Americans and Iraqis who lost their lives. For when it counted most, the spin worked.
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Charts: Bush Lowballed Us on Iraq by $6 Trillion
Ten years later, the Bush administration's projected price tag for the war in Iraq seems downright cute. According to the first-ever comprehensive count of the true toll of the combined wars, the estimate the administration used to sell the invasion in 2003 was about 100 times too low.
Chris Hayes of MSNBC Discusses The Costs of The Iraq War
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Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq
MOTHER JONES - Mushroom clouds, duct tape, Judy Miller, Curveball. Recalling how Americans were sold a bogus case for invasion.
At A congressional hearing examining the march to war in Iraq, Republican congressman Walter Jones posed "a very simple question" about the administration's manipulation of intelligence: "How could the professionals see what was happening and nobody speak out?"
Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, responded with an equally simple answer: "The vice president."
About the Author
Robert Jennings is the co-publisher of InnerSelf.com, a platform dedicated to empowering individuals and fostering a more connected, equitable world. A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, Robert draws on his diverse life experiences, from working in real estate and construction to building InnerSelf with his wife, Marie T. Russell, to bring a practical, grounded perspective to life’s challenges. Founded in 1996, InnerSelf.com shares insights to help people make informed, meaningful choices for themselves and the planet. More than 30 years later, InnerSelf continues to inspire clarity and empowerment.
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