"Failure to plan equals planning to fail. It appears that we did just that with Iraq, never producing a plan for what to do once the shooting stopped, with repercussions that echo in the fighting that continues in Iraq today."

Doubtlessly true, but the much bigger problem has been the lack of flexibility to catch up. Ultimately a lack of leadership from the top. We would be completely screwed if our military wasnt doing such a magnificent job.

Top 5 inexcusable, idiotic screwups:
-Taking Saddam's palaces as US HQs. Stupid doesnt begin to describe this. Meet the new boss...
-Putting infastructure reconstruction in the hands of the lowest bidder. Speaks for itself. Halliburton isnt an evil company, but its certainly not going to have the balls out motivation the situation required. Its been 2 years and we havent got the electricity much better than it started. That is criminal.
-Too few troops. Not to win the war, to keep the peace. When it became obvious we didnt have enough troops to control both the cities and the countryside (much less the borders), alarm bells should have wrung. They still should.
-Paul Bremer. Hire a beaurocrat, get a beaurocracy. Should have been a general.
-No national ID card. How much simpler can you get? We've got a list of every Iraqi citizen (from the food distribution program). We've got computer database experts. We've got billions of dollars. Give every Iraqi an ID and make them carry it. Solves all kinds of problems, helps elections immensely, and keeps foriegners on their toes. Easy.

>>No national ID card. How much simpler can you get? We've got a list of every Iraqi citizen (from the food distribution program). We've got computer database experts. We've got billions of dollars. Give every Iraqi an ID and make them carry it. Solves all kinds of problems, helps elections immensely, and keeps foriegners on their toes. Easy.

Yes, let's lay the groundwork for a worse tyranny later! That's a great idea!

"Your papers, please?"

"Yes, let's lay the groundwork for a worse tyranny later! That's a great idea!"

So in your estimation having a national ID is a bigger threat to Iraqi liberty than allowing Al Qaeda the run of the country? Lets burn that bridge when we come to it. The point is there is already a list of every Iraqi citizen in existance, issuing ID cards to them isnt going to alter that. How about we save the country before we go worrying about nebulous crisis little peices of plastic with pictures on them may or may not cause.

>>So in your estimation having a national ID is a bigger threat to Iraqi liberty than allowing Al Qaeda the run of the country?

Goodness yes. "Al Qaeda" is a relatively minor problem in Iraq. Absent the US occupation, it's unlikely that the locals would tolerate these hooligans for any length of time. If the USG was on better terms with the Iraqi population, local militias and clans would likely be disposing of the terrorists for us. Unfortunately the USG is too incompetent and unaccountable to take advantage of this.

>>The point is there is already a list of every Iraqi citizen in existance, issuing ID cards to them isnt going to alter that.

Those lists should probably be burned. When the USG leaves Iraq, those lists will be turned over to the new Iraqi puppet government, likely some variant of Saddam 2.0. Then the fun will really begin.

""Al Qaeda" is a relatively minor problem in Iraq. Absent the US occupation, it's unlikely that the locals would tolerate these hooligans for any length of time. "

AQ is probably too narrow admittedly, but without question the presence of foriegners in Iraq has been a major problem. They have been the ones doing the suicice bombing which have been amongst the most effective tactics. This insurgency is being directed and supplied from Syria, mainly by Sunni Iraqi's who fled. A national ID and database would make it far easier for our people (and the ING) to tell the wheat from the chaff, as well as get an idea of which Sunnis are doing what. If a guys name gets flagged a few times, thats a nice red arrow. As of now we are stumbling around hoping for the best.
Remember, this insurgency started very slowly. There was a critical window after the war when native Iraqis were terrified of the US. It was the foriegn suicide bombers that helped them overcome that fear. We should have been on top of that, and particularly the Sunnis crisscrossing the border.

"If the USG was on better terms with the Iraqi population, local militias and clans would likely be disposing of the terrorists for us. Unfortunately the USG is too incompetent and unaccountable to take advantage of this. "

I wont argue with that. See the rest of my list.

"Those lists should probably be burned. When the USG leaves Iraq, those lists will be turned over to the new Iraqi puppet government, likely some variant of Saddam 2.0. Then the fun will really begin"

Those lists are the only thing that are going to allow us any kind of a reasonable election. Saddam 2.0 wont need citizen lists to tyranize. Our first priority is to prevent that from happening in the first place. And if the US leaves how will the government be a puppet? Most of the criticism i've scene indicates a fear of an anti US government taking power. Regardless, we need to prioritize. Tyrants dont need lists when they have machine guns and the will to use them. Representitive govs do need lists, for simple things like voter rolls and to keep out suicide bombers.

You've forgotten to mention the new 200,000+ estimate of insurgent strength, the assassination of the governor of Baghdad, 700 campaign volunteers quitting in Mosul, the ridiculous plans to fly in every piece of necessary election hardware in the ten days before the election... the list goes on and fucking on.

Scrutiny Hooligans has this roundup.

thanks for all you do.