Powell: U.S. Misjudged Insurgents in Iraq

Powell: U.S. Misjudged Insurgents in Iraq

By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
September 02, 2004

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Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged Thursday that the Bush administration miscalculated the strength of insurgents in Iraq but said the United States would "not become faint of heart" in enforcing its Iraq policy.

"What we have to do is to defeat this insurgency," Powell said in an interview Wednesday in Panama to Panama's TVN Channel 2. A text was released Thursday by the State Department. "Let's remember what is causing this trouble. It's not the United States. It's not the coalition forces that are there."

He conceded that "it is clear we did not expect an insurgency that would be this strong."

The Pentagon announced this week that the death toll for U.S. military personnel in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was 975 and the number of wounded was approaching 7,000. Casualties and deaths have mounted rapidly since mid-April as the insurgency has intensified, and the Bush administration's postwar strategy is a major issue in the presidential campaign.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040902/API/409020822

How do you look in the mirror, Mr. Secretary?

that misjudged the insurgents. Most everyone else was trying to warn this arrogant, elitest administration that it was big trouble invading Iraq. Hell, I remember Saddam told us exactly what it would be like. Kerry needs to press the issue more about Iraq now being a haven for terrorists that it was not before thanks to Bush's mishandling of the aftermath.

"What we have to do is to defeat this insurgency," Powell said

You have a better chance of defeating hurrican Francis

Insurgency = guerilla war. They aren't winnable (according to military history), except via genocide (which is what the European invaders did when they "settled" this country).

You nailed it Kiddo !!

Or they could have listened to the generals who told 'em.

others knew that this would happen? There excuses always come down to either lying or incompetent.

Now we'll never hear the end of them, thanks to you Colon.

:shrug:
rocknation

When did you get your first clue. You slacker, you! :puke:

You got to wonder what this man is thinking though. He may not be as pathetic as the neocons--but he's surely not far from them.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=482&u=/040831/482/rnc22308310226&printer=1

gawd, whatta buncha dumbasses (who get people killed)

because they're starting to sound like blooper reels.

That is how Rethugs couch most things. It's merely a math eror. It's a bit more benign that we fucked up.

ala "Gladiator", I suppose, eh powell?

Internal U.S. feud hurt postwar Iraq planning
July 12, 2003

BY JONATHAN S. LANDAY AND WARREN P. STROBEL
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON -- A small group of top civilians in the Defense Department who dominated planning for postwar Iraq failed to prepare for the setbacks that have erupted over the past two months.

The officials, led by the No. 3 person in the department , did not develop postwar plans because they believed that Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops and that Washington could install a favored Iraqi exile figure as the country's leader.

The Pentagon civilians ignored CIA and State Department experts who disputed them and resisted White House pressure to back off from their pick to run Iraq. When their scenario collapsed amid increasing disorder, they had no backup plan.
http://www.freep.com/news/nw/iraq12_20030712.htm

Having lost its fight to prevent a war to force "regime change", the State Department is leading the attempt to stop the Pentagon installing Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, as interim leader of Iraq.

<...>

At this point, opinions over what should happen diverge fundamentally. Doug Feith, the number three in the Pentagon who has overall responsibility for post-war Iraq, wants power to be passed to Mr Chalabi as swiftly as possible. "We would involve Iraqis as soon as possible and transfer responsibility to Iraq entities as soon as we could," he said last week.

Mr Feith, a neo-conservative closely allied to Paul Wolfowitz, the Pentagon deputy, is strongly supported by Vice-President Dick Cheney but faces determined opposition from the CIA and State Department.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/06/wirq106.xml

because he exposed Ahmed Chalabi. The CIA was used and Tenet went along. When the WMDs were not found as the Neo Fascists knew they wouldn't be the CIA and MI6 were used as the scapegoats of faulty intell. It seems that the Neo Fascists figured the WMD issue wouldn't matter once the Iraqis bowed to the Occupation. Problem was that the Iraqis wouldn't accept colonization. The Neo Fascists fucked up.

The US Puppet Govt. is also failing because the Iraqis now know that the US never intended for Iraq to be a real "Democracy". The plan now is to forget about "Winning the hearts and minds" but to destroy all opposition to colonization of Iraq. The siege of Faluja is the beginning of this camaign. Najaf failed.

Gippetto's pulling strings should never be re-elected!
:kick:

Just send in 50,000 troops, we'll have it all under control in no time.

Some of us used our brains. What happened to yours?

destroyed most of his grey cells.

They all affect the same parts of the neurocircuitry, so that's no excuse.

said a minimum of 200M to as many as 400M would be needed not to win the war but to protect the country and secure the peace.

They said we needed to protect the borders, which we didn't, protect the infrastucture and assets from looters, the only thing we protected was the oil ministry as looters and chaos ran rampant..Remember Rumsfeld when the historic artifacts were being looted basically saying shit happens, ho hum, and those with experience and knowledge said not to fire the soldiers, only their superiors, because there would be many unemployed men with weapons.

In his limited wisdom(read ignorance) Rumsfeld arrogantly ignored them all.

Fuckwads, they were too busy listening to the neocons and their spy network and counting in their little piggy minds all the money to be made from profiteering

Arrigant asswipes..oh well..its someone else's children who are dying not theirs.

If Powell had one bit of integrity left he would tell Bush and Co to go Cheney themselves.

Here's what poppy bush said about going to Baghdad.

“Trying to eliminate Saddam... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible... we would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq... there was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see, violating another of our principles... Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."---GHW Bush

Poppy bush didn't miscalculate, did he?
Guess you forgot about him.

Way back BEFORE your invasion? They told you this could happen yet you refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...refused to listen...

:kick:

Most people on DU, without the access to information this administration had, figured that out. Either these people are the dumbest fuck wads to ever run a country or they are liars.