How post war Iraq was Botched

Oil Ministry guarded:

. . [O]ne of the sole public buildings untouched by looters has been Iraq's massive oil ministry, which is under round-the-clock surveillance by troops.

www.perspektif.net...
Ammo dumps NOT guarded:

. . [H]elicopters fly over occasionally. But it is not guarded around the clock, and officials say they believe that weapons and munitions are still being removed -- and probably being used in devices that are killing Americans and Iraqis.

www.mercurynews.com...

One can only assume that to guard the Oil minstry and NOT the ammo dumps had to have come from higher up [read Bush administration]. Certainly a military commander would have made sure ammo dumps were secure.
Those weapons/ammo are the ones still killing American forces and Iraqi forces attempting to secure Iraq.

After it had become apparent there were no WMDs the excuse of bringing liberty and democracy to Iraq was presented as a [lame] rationale. That as everyone is aware was shot to h*ll after Abu Grabe.

I believe Abu Grabe reflects the general attitude of the Bush adminstration that people don't matter. This comes from the 'Patriot Act' which goes too far eroding our civil liberties here at home and their general attitude that Iraqis can be treated as sub-human because they won't know any different after Saddam's rule.

I personally believe there was a short window of time right after the 'winning of the war' where if the funds had been available the infrustructure could have been worked on right away we could have won a LOT of hearts and minds and made the peace much more winnable.

The two problems were:

1. Not enough troops on the ground. [Paul Bremmer]

2. Not enough funds available. Trying to run a 'war on the cheap'.

This was further compounded by not using/involving the indigenous population for re-building and instead funnelling money to Haliburton and Bechtel for obscene war profiteering.

Due to many of the prior listed mistakes the current administration has felt compelled to cede Fallujah to unknown elements. It has become a sanctuary for terrorists.

If we are EVER to win the 'peace' in Iraq we will have to do it much smarter than it has been run to date.

IMO we need to communicate with Iraqis better. We have to learn what they collectively think is best and learn to live with it. We have to avoid trying to impose some strictly western vision of what we think is best on them. At the same time we have to acquire control on the ground. Bring in allies [who probably won' t offer actual troops] that would be willing to train Iraqi personel to police and defend their own nation. A nation that Iraqis genuinely feel is their own and reflects what they want.
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