Pentagon Institute Calls Iraq War 'A Major Debacle', with 'Outcome in Doubt'

Pentagon Institute Calls Iraq War 'A Major Debacle', with 'Outcome in Doubt'

www.commondreams.org

The report said that the United States has suffered serious political costs, with its standing in the world seriously diminished. Moreover, operations in Iraq have diverted “manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers” from “all other efforts in the war on terror” and severely strained the U.S. armed forces.

“Compounding all of these problems, our efforts there (in Iraq) were designed to enhance U.S. national security, but they have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East,” the report continued.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Unreal.

My question is, where were these people PRIOR to marching us into this catastrophe?

Now we've got the top heads of the Pentagon basically admitting what an absolute trainwreck this invasion / occupation is, and yet Decider and Insaney keep trumpeting from the tree-tops "Stay the Course!" "Stay the course!"

How many more lives have to be lost and ruined before somebody puts an end to this disaster?

Compounding the problem was a series of faulty assumptions made by Bush’s top aides, among them an expectation fed by Iraqi exiles that Iraqis would be grateful to America for liberating them from Saddam’s dictatorship. The administration also expected that “Iraq without Saddam could manage and fund its own reconstruction.”

The report also singles out the Bush administration’s national security apparatus and implicitly President Bush and both of his national security advisers, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, saying that “senior national security officials exhibited in many instances an imperious attitude, exerting power and pressure where diplomacy and bargaining might have had a better effect.”

www.commondreams.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Not sure if it was the same people, but before the invasion I recall plenty of experts on the evening news shows spelling out what would happen if we went ahead as planned in Iraq and the WOT, and they pretty much got it right.
The thing that pisses me off the most is the current administrations complete and utter disregard for any expert opinions that go counter to their plans, ideas etc.... Human nature, I guess, but at that level of responsibility, i.e. the leader of the free world, you think We The People would expect a higher standard.
I hate us for what we've allowed to happen.