The 720-page report compiled by the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, details the effects of having too few coalition troops on the ground when the reality after the fall of Baghdad was "severely out of line" with the anticipated conditions.
Previous experience "should have indicated that many more troops would be needed for the post-Saddam era in Iraq," historians wrote in the report, "On Point II: Transition to a New Campaign."
"The coalition's inability to prevent looting, to secure Iraq's borders and to guard the vast number of munitions dumps in the early months after Saddam's overthrow are indicative of the shortage," the study found.
RE: Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report
Sounds likeCNN cherry picked snippets of the huge report that noone will really ever have the time or interest in reading that will pass through CNN's agenda filter.
Their filter would allow a different story depending on who is the President:
-Republican President: The invasion, occupation, and subjection ofIraqwas poorly planned. Way too many soldiers died because of inadequate troops and equipment. A quagmire could have been averted if they had enough troops on the ground from the start. Because of the President's shortsighted plan and his haste to go to war with a non-aggressive nation, the people of Iraq are in constant danger and Iraq has become a breeding ground for anti-American terrorists.......
-Democratic(sic) President- The Invasion and liberation of Iraq was an unqualified success. The initial drive into Baghdad was extremely successful due to near perfect planning using proven Blitzkrieg strategy combined with 21st century technology. The Loss of life on both sides was only a tiny fraction of that seen in other invasions of similar size and scope in the past. The Brilliance of the President and his top men should be lauded for their outstanding success. One area that could use improvement in the future would be to get more troops on the ground to secure and occupy after the initial attack wave. The President's hands were tied on this as the opposition party in congress decided to stonewall funding for the needed actions in order to put their own political needs first. Iraq is now at its safest and most stable state its been in ever, with the citizens freely practicing democracy.....
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Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
RE: Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report
With all the wars we've been involved in as a nation, including one where we fought each other, I would have thought our military would have developed some general principles on how to run a war.
This concept that "War is just another form of diplomacy" is quite misleading. The purpose of a war should be to defeat and crush the enemy. If we don't have a good reason to do that, then we should stay home.
RE: Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report
I think there were significant miscalculations made. I wonder -- and I do not pretend to know -- if the low level of commitment was tied to some unspoken maximum price someone was willing to pay for the engagement and later the full bill came to the table. For example, like if I want to go elk hunting and I tell my wife I can do it for less than $1,000 but when all the expenses are totted up, it amounts to maybe $2,500. Oops! Sorry, my oversight honey! If I had told my wife it was going to cost $2,500 up front I might have been denied her blessing to go elk hunting. Just speculation on my part. Of course, the miscalculation may just have been due to a flawed assumption. Remember that the assumption was that the oppressed people of Iraq would jump up and bless us for ousting the evil Dictator Saddam and rejoice in the immediate adoption of Western Democratic forms of self-government. Say what you will, that assumption has been shown to be wrong. Was it naieve? Was it just one of those things you have to learn the hard way? I don't know.
What I say may sound critical above, but I don't really feel that way. Sometimes it is better to do something than to sit around and do nothing until you have analyzed and studied a situation to death. And in the history of actions, this is far from the worst that can happen. Study the battle of the Somme, the battle of Paschendale, the battle of Verdun, the battle of the Masurian Lakes in WW-I to get a piquant flavor of "what can go wrong." People who expect governments and/or military organizations to bat 1000 have mistaken and unrealistic expectations.
Army criticizes itself in Iraq invasion report
