Life in the Iraq "Green Zone"

Run time: 03:56 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzwYVUIEzsk   Posted on YouTube: April 17, 2015 By YouTube Member: YouTube Help Views on YouTube: 6880753   Posted on DU: January 31, 2007 By DU Member: FourScore Views on DU: 1701

 
"Brian speaks to Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post about the sometimes-surprising policies put in place by civilian decision-makers. Chandrasekaran has written a highly regarded book on the subject called "Imperial Life in the Emerald City".

watching this clip and seeing Chandrasekaren on TDS and other shows, he paints a picture of imperial hubris by the Bush administration that staggers the mind. Anyone with an elementary knowledge of history within the middle east should have known Bush's Iraq attack was doomed to failure. Which explains why we are where we are today in Iraq. No one within the Bush administration, the civilians who planned this entire cluster-fuck, had even the most rudimentary insight into what the middle east's history is all about. They all saw a chance to employ their "utopian", PNAC-esque capitalistic society, complete with their asinine "flat tax" on the citizens of Iraq, and all they saw was dollar signs in their eyes and power.
What a miserable failure. I have to buy this book.

I've decided to get the book as well. The author really is so articulate. I'm sure it will be quite an interesting read.

Peter Galbraith also notes the incredible stupidity in numbing detail, as decisions big and small were taken almost with an eye to to the worst thing possible with a timing that created the most horrific effect. He thinks they are actually that stupid, and perhaps the majority were, and sometimes temporary agenda over rode long term agenda. Being there as a member of the Diplomatic team.