the
great respect that I have for your leadership mister president
in this little-understood
unfamiliar wars the first war the 21st century
it is not well known it was
not well understood it is complex for people to
comprehend and I know with certain
certainty that over time 3 contributions you've made will be
recorded by history our
hard
I'm
here
1
E
on May 1st 2003
President George W Bush declared an end two major combat operations in Iraq
and said in the battle over iraq the United States and our allies have
prevailed
in
here
and
four years later after over three thousand american deaths
and over 20,000 American wounded iraq has disintegrated
into chaos baghdad his 10 a
10 bombings 10-15 burmese a day ends maybe
50 keia but I suspect this
drastically under-reported we probably cash in a third
what's actually occurring millions of Iraqis have lost access to drinking
water
sewage treatment and electricity since the invasion baghdad
a city of 6 million has been under an 8 p.m. curfew since March
2006 over three million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries
0 estimates have the civilian death toll ranged as high as 600,000
on people who who died
they're lucky but people living they're dead
well their life the west part and the North Park all there are
are controlled by and thousands that other type
is controlled by Yemeni shares iraq's two major muscle groups
the shiite-majority and Sunni minority are increasingly at war
Garnett out what should
oh and other documents ok problem about
what method Rd jet camacho you honey I
Ghaziabad Court Donnie yeah
1
for tonight I just don't do it again
financial ruin
point
a ok
mmm
mom
from January 2003 to January 2005 I was chairman of the National Intelligence
Council
we produced the first national estimate on
the state of the insurgency and iraq the estimate delivery pretty bad news
basically laid out so to bad worst worst scenarios
the president called guesswork and is Harper spokesman called it's our
hand-wringing amazing harm
what was really really into me was the president haven't read it
September 11th 2001 was a very clear break beautiful day
and I had just come back from the pentagon barbershop
walked by my office and glanced up in on the television screen and
there was wanted the Twin Towers burning
we never heard the plane coming at least I didn't suddenly though
whole world turned upside down I saw a fireball
and I don't tell you ice on it and I said to myself I'm going to die today
that plane had come directly under our our section in the office is the army
Budget Office
were 38 army employees were killed
was directly beneath us and the Navy's new
command center was two floors beneath us everybody was killed in those two
sections this was something that Osama bin Laden had to orchestrate because he
was the only terrorist I could think of
who could've coordinated this kind of activity you had that thought
media immediately immediately I'm
a month after September 11th the United States and turn Afghanistan in search of
al Qaeda
and Osama bin Laden but even before the Afghan war several senior administration
officials were looking at another target
one that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks when the planes at the pentagon
I was
in the building and then I guess the next
between this or that happened was we immediately got asked
to see if we could write any relationship between
saddam in Arcadia I went right away to the
to the counterterrorism group and to their chief
Iraq analyst the two of us sat down over a few days
and looked at all historical reporting that we could go through
which include well we concluded that there was no relationship
his regime he'd and protect terrorist including
members and al Qaeda we continue to watch iraq's involvement in terrorist
activities
when I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more
sinister nexus between
Iraq in the ok I to terrorist network we don't want
smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud iraq has drones
and I don't think these drones and infirm on the ships in ago I'm the
drones with chemical biological weapons in the gulf latest round of the ship's
an attack the East Coast United States you know this is absolute fantasyland
people or
I don't know what they were smoking but it must been very good
George W Bush's foreign policy inner circle
cheney rumsfeld and Wolfowitz set the administration on course for war with
Iraq
Condoleezza Rice sided with them colin powell and Richard Armitage
the only senior officials with combat experience expressed concerns privately
but supported the administration in public and
bush's advisers had been involved with saddam hussein
since he invaded Iran in 1980 in a brutal war that killed nearly a million
people
iraq used chemical weapons against both the Iranian military
and innocent civilians saddam invested billions of dollars in
clear chemical and biological weapons programs well murdering three hundred
thousand his own citizens
I'm but the reagan administration fearing a ROM
supported saddam with military intelligence and economic aid
Donald Rumsfeld met with saddam in 1983
colin powell was reagan's national security adviser
from 1987 to 1989 it's really summed up
in dreadful but very very telling
State Department document from 1987
which said human rights and chemical weapons use
aside comma our interests run roughly parallel to those in Iraq
the iran-iraq war ends in stalemate in 1988
in nineteen ninety saddam invades kuwait
a us-led coalition expels him
in a war masterminded by Dick Cheney then-secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz then undersecretary of defense for policy
and colin powell then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
the first president Bush urges the rockies to stage a coup against saddam
there's another way for the bloodshed to stop and that is for the iraqi military
and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands and force at
Amherst saying the dictator
to step aside yet when iraq's southern Shiites rise up
the administration allow saddam to repress them 14
auto iraq's in to governors
were under rebel control when general schwartzkopf
allowed saddam hussein to use
helicopter gunships to massacre
the rebels men women and children the 1991 armistice requires a rock to disarm
but saddam refuses to comply as a result
iraq's economy crumbles under a UN embargo instituted in 1993
and continued by the clinton administration saddam's favor delete
remain wealthy but ordinary iraqis are plunged into extreme poverty
and many turned fundamentalist Islam in 1993
when George Bush Senior visits kuwait saddam attempts to assassinate him
seven years later his son has elected president the United States
when you see the same architects those policies
on the one hand talking about getting right
what they had gone wrong back in 1991 finishing the job
I was tempting to say well we'll maybe they've learned use
use much sweeter with sure you
worse every resume military
shoes
if you want to date the beginning love did
disaster post-war Iraq it would be january 28th 2003
when bush signed without
as far as I can tell any real discussion within the white house with the
administration national security presidential directive number 24
which gate controller post-war Iraq to the pentagon
that document essentially made on rumsfeld
the main actor on post-war Iraq is war was
conceived by a very small group of people inside the administrator Bush
administration
they had an entirely and naive the
vision of what iraq was and what iraqis would do once the regime
fell in formulating its views on post-saddam Iraq
the administration relied heavily on a man named akhmed
Chalabi since 1992 Chalabi had been president of the Iraqi National Congress
War II and see widely viewed with suspicion
Chalabi had been convicted in jordan over huge bank fraud
the intelligence community found his information unreliable
or even fraudulent at best I think
they were liars and at worst they were provocateurs
defer to 9c source it was always
looked at very very skeptically by
the analyst but that wasn't the case with policymakers
Chalabi asserted that post-war Iraq would be pro-american
and easily stabilized particularly if Chalabi himself
was in charge and so the plan was essentially
will stay for three or four months we will install
a government made up %uh exiles and led by
I inchallah be and then in August or September 2003
we will begin ATM drastic reduction of
troops Larry to readdress torsten 14 min said by the end of August
love 2003 we will have all but twenty-five to thirty thousand troops
out of Iraq
I heard him say that in a room full of people
and I turned my colleagues I said this guy doesn't know what he's talking about
its
physically impossible the state department's future other
iraq project thirteen volumes study on post-war Iraq
was ignored by the pentagon it was ok of a lot of thinking and state department
there
board feet volumes on
how we should do this almost done at this was integrated into the pentagon's
think
secretaries frustration along with my own
grew as we watched are careful planning our detailed planning
my essentially discarded in the people who've been involved in
essentially discarded so that more
loyal in line with the republican party's views and so forth people could
be appointed to key positions
in in Iraq
at this hour American and coalition forces
are in the early stages a military operations to disarm Iraq
reads people defend the world
great danger
generates because thing I've always felt a really important job and I didn't feel
like I B
content with myself going to life knowing that other people had fought
for my freedom John armitt on
to are support my country and now
us does a good time to the num
it was I A and on our
to go there and help my federal soldiers
to do but they tailed off
to go into their maybe takeout are
dictator out and then power
to reestablish to democracy I just
was waiting for the water to happen because it was the
on the eye of Hall I them I had
to look for and and when it happened I was
the excited and
that things will roll le début and talents that better
circumstances I killed
you're not stuck on another cell
other 11 it's just too confusing
loud noisy scary hopeful place
all kinda wrapped up together I would see kids with
ski caps on it said FBI across it and the beginning with a big thumbs up and I
would have other
young men who for probably 15 in civilian clothes can be very hard stares
and
you know kind of sizing me up and always come looking at the license plate of the
car
the iraqis were in waiting to see what this was going to bring them
the presence in the Americans had not been rejected
yet by the iraqi 0
no top I've seen people well coming be
coalition talks because we thought everything is planned
everything is prepared
how during world war 2
the United States started planning the occupation of germany
two years in advance but the bush administration didn't create the
organization that would manage the occupation of Iraq
until 60 days before the invasion or
the organization for reconstruction and humanitarian assistance
reported directly to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld I got a call
from the office security firms in late January
and they were life lead handle humanitarian affairs reconstruction
retired army general J garner was appointed to run or a
in the first Gulf War he had commanded 22,000 soldiers responsible for
humanitarian operations in the Kurdish zone
northern Iraq this time he would be running the entire country
to think we were prepared to run iraq I think we're ever prepared to me
it you know to for %uh task that made to publish years prepare
court in a Butthead years I got a phone call on my cell phone
from someone at the State Department telling me that retirement age
was looking for me and wanted me back in washington
right now ambassador Barbara Bodine was placed in charge
baghdad only three weeks before the war she was a career foreign service officer
who had served in Yemen
iraq and had been a hostage in kuwait for five months after Saddam's invasion
in nineteen ninety
she was one of the few State Department mideast experts
that the pentagon allowed into iraq she was one of you we could get it and I
thought they
initially made a mistake they thought they had a woman should be an easy mark
barber
wit of its members the servers by 2003 Army Colonel Paul Hughes had worked in
the pentagon for six years doing planning and strategy work for senior
Defense Department officials
I wonder being assigned to the officer reconstruction and humanitarian
assistance
under Jay garner know I was the director strategic policy for him
and
I'll we were given a suite of offices that
had been unoccupied for a couple of years had no computers in it you have
people showing up daily asking where do I said
they had no staff I had no personal I had I have nothing
from either a senior deputy down to our a secretary
there is only one meeting at the National Defense University and it was
the
I think the consensus opinion have the people who went to that meeting
with whom I spoke afterwards arm
that hey this is crazy that was our first meeting
and we're not given a whole lot of confidence by the first meeting because
essentially
we didn't do anything except meet each other it was completely
unstructured am there were no plans and they're truly were
norplant on the 16th of March or harm
flew out to Kuwait City we had 167 people that flew with us
167 people that were to essentially become the government
up a country of $25 million home
after the hall baghdad we had no idea what was going to happen
and they're certainly didn't seem to be much a plan what we're
generally being told is that we'd be getting back on the ship's
you know within a month or two I love a century conquering iraq
in
while we were in kuwait wheeler is glued to the television sentences everyone
else
malas the realization that there was
absolute lawlessness and chaos going on
iraq the Americans were doing it
they they would sit at certain intersections but
they wouldn't actually get out the on these are the tanks and
and really do much time passed
and we didn't see any progress there on the progress we found as the
uncontrolled
me down no tears had to note on the governmental buildings and even
private owned company deluding was partly a factor
I'll the troop levels and the
sense that Rumsfeld communicated to his commanders and his commanders
communicated down the chain
to the platoon in company level
that we were not their to run iraq
we were there to get rid of the regime and get out we're not under martial law
in his order general McKiernan was not told
to establish martial law you know not once was martial law declared
I'll just I'll tell you honestly where the transition period
I mean there's an iraqi civil law but there's no
I just heard that we just opened up to the first two courts
today so I i mean when your your started nothin
head martial law been declared which would have been authorized under the
Fourth Geneva Convention
maybe we would have had a bit more security
were pilloried I mean we can't we get early start worrying if we
if we do that was our sin task the greatest mystery
post-war Iraq involves that month or so after the fall of Baghdad
why the US didn't do anything to control the looting because no way
everything that's been a problem since then started at first month
people at the National Security Council chicken power
shelf and others
CIA director did express concern about the looting
did you express any concern president bush I was at a meeting where was she
expressed by my boss
tell me what mister Paul said that mean well you know it's not the way
we generally work hard my eyes to the president can be kept away private to
the present the word came from
Washington that we're not getting involved in that we're not we're not
gonna stop polluting were not
doing police work that's not what we're here for and I think
so there were explicit instructions from Washington
to not interfere with the living yes
hospitals government offices universities
ministries one CPA estimate had been possible leading
at twelve billion dollars that was the revenue
for iraq Ian 2003-2004
I picked up a newspaper today and I couldn't believe
I read a headline they talked about chaos
violence armrest any just was Henny Penny the sky is falling
just imagine the room this week that were sitting in all that you have
is concrete walls everything is gone we talking people coming in
with industrial cranes in walking off with parter
a power plant think what's happened in our cities
when we had riots and prop and looting
stuff happens this was not just people stealing stuff from grocery stores in
this was people
chip in concrete walls into
little pieces so they could take the rebar the image is your thing on
television
you're seeing over and over n over in it the same picture
up some person walking out of some building with the bait I think that was
probably the day that we lost
iraqis you think my goodness with that many believe
yeah it is it possible that there were that many bases in the whole country
that's when it became very clear that
this liberation really didn't have anything to do with the average iraqi
there was a belief that the Americans actually incurred still looking or one
at that
the destruction of our country occur they let this happen
so whether you're Sunni or Shia you outraged about the looting we
had an a list are twenty sites that we thought needed to be protected
I'm historical cultural artistic
religious and we had provided that
and and believe me no difference whatsoever
the
the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad
number one on nora's list contains some of the world's most important artifacts
early human civilization the museum was never protected
gonna go to bed I don't want them so that that after them
well other job creation tho Iraq's National Library
and National Archives containing thousands have ancient manuscripts
were burned down all what our pretend
all wat wherever 10 are
kept this library now we have no
national heritage three days ago
me bunny child
want to the head the Marines and Palestine Hotel
we waited there for about four hours
we met kernel that do promise
said he will send of cars to protect
what's left on the museum
three days ago till now
nobody came to try don't lay off the fact that
unfortunate activity
on on a defect in a war plan
it strikes me as a stretch weird specifically by
scholars and others about the danger to the you
what you urge to provide a greater level protection and security in the initial
phase Israel
not to my knowledge no one can claim that they were caught by surprise by the
leading
I just don't think they wanted to know they didn't want to hear it
in the months leading up to the invasion a debate over troop levels required in
Iraq had been privately brewing between the military leadership
and Donald Rumsfeld Rumsfeld and his deputy
Paul Wolfowitz believed that a foursome under 100,000 troops would be sufficient
for the invasion and occupation of Iraq a month before the invasion
the fight over troop levels became public as the Chief of Staff of the army
Eric Shinseki testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee
ignoring pressure from rumsfeld in with words generation sexyy
could you give us some ideas to the magnitude of the Army's force
requirement
for an occupation of Iraq something on the order
several hundred thousand soldiers are are
probably figure that
would be a required home
what is I think reasonably certain areas the idea that it would take several
hundred thousand US forces
I think is far from the mark it's hard to conceive that it would take more
forces to provide stability in post-saddam Iraq
that it would take to conduct the war itself in to secure the surrender saddam
security forces in his army hard to imagine
hard to imagine
anyone who had any experience
in the interventions in the nineties new that the opposite was true
you need X number them soldiers
her thousand citizens simply
to provide up a modicum of security
but Paul Wolfowitz couldn't imagine we're talking about
most are still a tease control over a
piece of geography that fairly significant with
the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to
other problems and so takes a significant ground force presence
did Josh in Turkey get it right he was asked for his best military pay
and his experience exceeds mine he
commanded our forces in bosnia he did it for your plus
he knows what he's talking about check tree pollen
to the same stand myself
we argued from one more troops and we made some difference but ultimately
Denzin we made enough for the difference personally I feel the word be going
differently if you had
leadership that really understood
number one what its like to be on the ground had actually served in the armed
forces
and number two really had a good
com managerial grasp love making this
this thing work the senior administration officials who overruled
the military and state Department
had no experience with post-war reconstruction efforts and little or no
military experience
Cheney had avoided military service during vietnam through 5 draft
deferments
Rumsfeld was a Navy pilot in the nineteen fifties
but it never seen combat wolfowitz and rice
had never served in the military
bush had avoided the vietnam draft by joining the Texas Air National Guard
he also had no foreign policy experience prior
to becoming president we're looking at it I say we
those overseas who had military experience and we would talk about this
often this doesn't look good in mid April 2003
with looting still underway rumsfeld cancel deployment the 1st Cavalry
Division
before some 16,000 soldiers it shocked us
you know how can you turn off that division if we'd head that division
following us into a rock we would destabilize
a lot more iraq just to our present on april nineteenth
or a finally entered iraq to begin post-war operations
know that 20 ministry would bring back sixteen
those buildings were destroyed as a prop as a functionally we were starting from
zero
unit there are no desks and there are no chairs in running typewriters left
where do we go in me iraqis to
start working there was no structure left am
physical structure bureaucratic structure had put people out on the
street walking around asking do you know him as an interview with People measure
helping other people were in the ministry
to you know the P people in Minister of Education within the group itself
we had I think probably five
who spoke any amount to a very big we had
no phoneless we had two phones for a while selling is having a homeless was
not really that important
we had no information we had no place to go we didn't know who to contact
I am not the best way to not the best way to start an occupation
and what followed was this pervasive
senselessness to direct her covered for and guys with guns took over
and they were the iraqi got to go
on
it
the firefighter got caught up in
were not fire fights were americans were being attacked it was a rocking on iraqi
firefights he just be driving down stream suddenly
there's a few slaughter fire just opens up on you
and you're just in the middle up these guys shooting channel
the streets were chaotic people could kill and get away with that there was no
working police force
just trying to do. invasion saddam released about a hundred thousand
prisoners common criminals from the jails
in February love
2003 going to petition to come in brief
advisory panel that advises Secretary Rumsfeld on
on defense policy matters what I told them was that
based on our experiences in previous peace operations in on what had happened
in Iraq
historically who is very likely that if the US
intervened and captured Baghdad that we were likely to face
massive civil disturbance I suggested that we needed about 2500 Constabulary
forces
about 4,000 civil police street cops
and then teens and judicial advisors and corrections officers
in the NBA agreed that while this was a good idea
there wasn't enough time but maybe for the next war
prior to the war the but I didn't work received
one murder case a month within the month they were getting about 25
the they were seen grapes open for the first time rapes and murders
directors have been kidnapped so you're acumen disappeared in the streets stop
going to school
stop driving the Americans were not acting as the police
needed no the street a bag that they didn't speak the language they didn't
have interpreters
in sufficient numbers million have intelligence about what was going on
so it was a free-for-all and you just fell
is a is avoid here
here
very quickly the mosque came in a field in that the vacuum
that the Americans created by getting rid of Saddam leaving nothing as place
and she neighborhood say very quickly
establish control in particular the clerks associated with move to the
center
inkatha outsider was the son of a famous Shiite cleric
and started a bid for power based on his father's network of masks
and charities Ohare the No
there
all at
here
there
only a few days after american troops entered baghdad
he assassinated a pro-american Shiite leader then he began creating a heavily
armed militia
the Mahdi Army which took over Baghdad Shiite ghetto
and much of southern iraq if you tended to the issues of policing
if there hadn't been the looting then you would have had people turning to
sectarian militias as their sources
neighborhood security or how worked on recalling the Iraqi military to deal
with the security vacuum
the army Central Command CENTCOM supported this policy
what's up comedy they had factored into their planning to bring it back to the
Iraqi army use Iraqi army to seal the borders to
provide static security things and also help in the reconstruction /url nation
from cellco
he said hey Jade Korea like everything's gonna you did a great job you need team
lectern and a day and all them by the way the president is
morning jerry brimmer as the presidential employer
bremen was a former Foreign Service Officer like most official sent to Iraq
brimmer did not speak Arabic had no previous experience with the mideast
or post-war reconstruction and had never served in the military
after grammer's arrival more how would be phased out
and the Coalition Provisional Authority CPA would take its place
we intend to have a very I
affected efficient and well-organized
and Oberon on general garner an iron
pledge to working very closely together he's done an outstanding job we set up a
syriza briefers form he's been a day going throughout her body was not and he
took charge
I came home like third or fourth at the gym
between May 1st in his departure for Iraq on May 10th
bremmer worked at the pentagon and met frequently with rumsfeld
will forward and undersecretary dogfight I'm
romer also worked closely with walter slocum a former undersecretary of
defense
Rumsfeld had appointed to be in charge of post-war policy
for iraq's military they contacted me mid-march
2003 did cross your mind to think you know isn't it kinda
wait for them to be thinking about this yes
Digitel in there
now like bremmer slocum had never served in the military
had never been to Iraq had no post-war reconstruction experience
and spoke no Arabic in Bremer
first 10 days at work while still in Washington DC
he made three fateful policy decisions his first decision
was to stop the formation of an interim Iraqi government
even though OJ goner have been working to establish one Jay Carney Shirley
supportable to get some governing body ever Rockies but this was said
done away with on the way to baghdad and I didn't think I'm gonna do about it
beforehand in order to die
we had expected I think I can say we have been promised
that there would be a sovereign government
virtually I'm in charge
and everyone will do what I say and that's it
understand and that's kinda the way
L paul bremer came across much much much
to hardcore into mission-driven
to see that is exclusion love the iraqis
early on from major participation in the decision-making process was a grievous
error
may 2003 we've got the the legal occupation of Iraq
I set up a time believe now but that was mister
on the american basically to leave Iraq completely
not iraqi people threw a rock
the reaction to his next two decisions would be dramatically worse
d better education I am today establishing
an iraqi the bath occasion Council
to ensure that the structure and influence at the bath party
is eliminated for good bremmer second decision his first formal order as head
of the CPA
purged an estimated 50,000 members of the bath party
which saddam had used to rule the rock for most primers order meant
permanent unemployment the policy also crippled iraq's government
educational system and economy because i purge senior government officials who
would join the party simply to survive under Saddam's regime
I was walking down the hall and master Robin racial can be a city seen this
lesser what is around and she says
the best case russia now so I read it real quick and i said i this
don't think we can do this she said well I think you're good cock torture
to let's say a man tasered about let miss
go through this and the skin on the phone from selling secrets of a little
bit he said not all
I'll have that flexibility opinion mortars mnemonics so that and that's
good he may have command
and spoken to me at great length about I just don't remember
honestly don't remember you remember these guys coming in and saying she
doesn't even have 1000 people and
my god what are you doing I just a young you I was working 20 hours a day in that
period as well this wasn't the only thing on my
list of things to do the first five days I was there
bremmer appointed Ahmed Chalabi to head the debate
application Council Chalabi use the position to eliminate political rivals
the bath occasion was so deep that I we were able to get the government run in
as efficiently as we should processes we should have and you had a lotta
disenfranchised
method
the were people who were kicked out of their jobs
even tho the were just
professionals engineers direct or
the technocrat the intelligencia then
elementary school librarian being conquered and then losing your job in
not have the means to support yourself your family was incredibly humiliating
experience
it was primers third decision however that was the most explosive
disbanding the Iraqi military and intelligence services
the most important institutions in Iraq CPA order number two
disbanded the Iraqi army Republican Guard special Republican Guard
and secret police overnight bremmer rendered unemployed
and thereby infuriated half a million armed men
equivalent to firing over five million people in the United States
and so these men rather than helping to prevent an insurgency
instead created one
on
I can't believe they did that
hundreds of thousands of families dependent
on the army they didn't have an Intel they didn't have
providers we by no
no money rely on God children
have their war women wide stepsisters
fathers and stop
eating because they didn't have enough money officially think it's 27 percent
unemployment
officially its its almost certainly much higher
I would guessing where from forty to fifty percent
is it any wonder that many of these people who were militant who
almost all had at least some military training since you had to serve in the
army in iraq
or they were active military would turn to
joining the insurgency just as a means to
feed their family and as a means of regaining some %uh that pride
in deciding to disband the Iraqi military
bremer was on doing a policy supported by both the US military
and by aura poll Hughes have a team
that was seeking up a wreck your mean he's beginning to find a lotto
and he had found a lot of them and we had made over two hours to bring them
back
the soldiers when they registered had to sign or fill out a questionnaire
about who the war what unit they were with what they did what their skills or
what military equipment they had at home
want just a I'll a lot
information that would have been useful to us and I was collecting all of that
but the DOD advisory team in charge of dealing with the iraqi military
headed by walter slocum had remained in Washington DC
had never visited Iraq I said I don't see any reason to go out there I can get
ready better here in washington
and I urge them time and again in my conversations with them from baghdad
that they needed to get over there because there were people waiting
on them you know want me and in particular to show up so he could make
decisions
and get the ball rolling in his absence
I was left with the duty up
having to deal with the Iraqi army just to keep contact with them
Iraqi army was essentially standing there waiting
they were waiting for an overture there waiting for what they thought would
happen
that someone would come to them and say
this is the point and your integral
to that point in we need you no one ever did
when the war was over on the major maneuver fighting was over
who were simply Knoll units still in existence
everybody had gone home generals and commanders were coming back with entire
division saying here are my people
or the Iraqi officers towards the end up
on second or third meeting when baghdad was going
yeah it was in chaos said
call Paul I can have ten thousand military policeman for you next week you
just tell me
I took that back to Bernie Kerik staff and nothing
was done with it I'll
I'll five days after bremmer issued his order
we were farewell in J garner because he was going to leave Iraq
for good the next day we had to home fees
on the highway hang out from the Green Zone
and they were ambushed in two soldiers were killed
and that was when in my mind the insurgency began
I'm
my colleagues and I could sit on the Belkin here on the roof for the
republican power supply
we could watch tracers throughout baghdad
we could watch the players different colours that went up
working where american convoys have certain compositions
or moving and being followed by the insurgents
go means
the
these guys all knew where those munitions war
they are new how to get to those weapons and how to use them
and you just sent them away and said they don't exist
common sense tells me you don't do that
when you have a huge ammunition dumps that weren't guarded until
several weeks if not a couple months after major combat
action tended I'm standing there watching these insurgents
pullout rockets and mortars and bombs from these weapons caches that the
iraqis its store
stashed everywhere and you go to the British were to the US where is there
with your little GPS
receiver to hey guys no we found like
eighteen thousand million tons of bombs and they're a bunch
iraqis there with ak-47s take me away probably not the best idea
here's where it's located in a CDO we just don't have enough people to cover
it
just I couldn't believe it was in the right answer
go there and take care of it for your security for the civilian security for
everybody it's just a bad idea
ok
anybody warn you that disbanding the Army in this way
would and then was fueling
major growth the insurgency not a minister
nobody said that you know i'll settle
true but it nobody said nobody still believe it's true
know I'll try and do not believe is true a number the most senior generals
came to the canal hotel to UN headquarters
and they were very explicit a consequence have leading this order
stand
and of marginalizing this incredibly powerful
segment of society would be an insurgency
lebanese on diplomat named Hassan salami
turned to his colleague as the generals walked away after one of the meetings
and said I see bullets in their eyes
I see bullets in their eyes of even more remarkable than the decision to disband
the army
was how that decision was made secretly
over a single week by a few men in Washington DC who had never been to Iraq
they did not consult with the military commanders in Iraq
the Joint Chiefs of Staff or ha the state department
the CIA the National Security Council or even apparently
the President of the United States walter slocum and Paul Hughes worry
interviewed
in order to reconstruct the events leading to the dissolution of the army
these guys called themselves the independent military gathering
independent military gathering at a hundred thousand
on the ninth with me and they already had on defense against this was a
nationwide effort they brought me that
I wanted the printouts I wanted their desks and they gave them to me and I
took them back with me Torre
I said here we go and I and I told Walt and his crew
I've got these things they're here waiting for you use believe that he and
in
hoping to some Iraqi officers
who would have been prepared to reconstitute
unit I'll he really had obtained registration statements from 137
thousand in
he had internet he made he may have read gotten
he met couldn't because nobody could have gotten statement 330,000
anybody for any in the chaos that prevailed
that point they had a career system setup that was running around
the the metropolitan area baghdad
Okemos all above a bus for a and Kirkuk
and I don't understand I I mean I given how difficult it was to do anything
just operational and organizational
nobody on 137 pounds what wasn't there
he never met with these people he had no clue so did you tell slocum
this that this was going on yes he knew this he and his staff knew this
ambassador bremer it you had already made a recommendation
him and he had already made at least a tentative recommendation
to Secretary Rumsfeld about the dissolution of the army
I'm punishment your the primary issue
yes on May 9 yes
okay the 9th of May was the last time I had a conversation
with are walt slocum and we talked on the phone before one out
did you ever say to him were thinking you have disbanding the Iraqi army in
stopping your efforts to recall the Iraqi Army's and one other thing should
we
my did just you ever say that to him in those words no
the conversation was I'm coming over
I'm concerned about where I'm going to be living you know am I going to have a
motor pool with me
my own cooks yada yada yada me it was
nothing about the Iraqi military and I was giving him an update on wall
so he didn't say that he had already comes it the tentative conclusion and
recommended to Brammer
to dissolve the arm absolutely not because here he said that I would have
been on Jay's
doorstep post haste to you guys
came up with this idea and recommended as Secretary Rumsfeld
without having spoken in you senior people in Iraq responsible for these
matters
that it
subject to and precisely because of the fact
that it had actually been only thought it for a few days
because remember was going on in Burma said the rooms before I make a
recommendation I will
talk people on the ground the was a surprise you with its been discussed
with apples to know him discuss me was proper
big surprise really you never called up corner and said we're thinking of doing
this
do you think this is a good idea go
secretive don't you think that might have been a mistake
no what was your reaction
which you think authorities a poor idea I thought we needed bring them back John
Abbas a day McCarron
were cops p tell me how about her in up let's get the army-backed let's get
their army
there is a large number of former Iraqi soldiers are unemployed now
that is a huge concern not only from a security standpoint but from an economic
standpoint
there they're not earning an income right now and there's the announcement
that the Iraqi army has been disbanded
and I was floored and at this particular point I'm
walt slocum and his team still were not and
iraq colonel Hughes was the person who is in charge in dealing with the Iraqi
army because none of the people from your advisory group and yet showed up in
Iraq including you
didn't you think that maybe you should speak with him about this
my cock him
that's funny he says that the order
spending the army came as a complete surprise to him and he learned it by
watching it on television and
airport the checks
believe that so much surprised but it possible
I'll talk mean I talk to him we work together on
a daily basis during the time I was there he came on the 16th
of May 16 to 440 whirlwind tour of the country
now and then he left and he didn't come back until the middle of June
no correct he didn't tell you that
wish idea to disband the entire army was one that came as quite a surprise to me
I C what was your reaction when he learned of it
I so we did just created a problem had a lot about work
soldiers president already made a different decision which was to keep
battalion
and below in force earlier yes
yeah but well within I mean it couple days proximity
I think most of us were caught politically unawares were completely
unawares by this disbanding the army
Czech Republic found out about it as I did
which was how you just as we found out one day he renounced to be disbanded the
army
about kindly to rise shot to speak for yourself do you have any idea how much
the president knew about these decisions in advance whether he had known as I've
said before I don't know if he was in
I missed from children no idea I was in my office but two hours
and no young MP comes to see me he was curled
use I got some Iraqi officers wanna meet with you
and i was thinkin to myself holy cow
well I told these guys so I finally came downstairs and met with him in the
rotunda
the Republican Palace croatia on
service Colonel Paul what happened I settle
I don't know what happened I have no idea how this came about
he said all the soldiers
they now have no recourse they have no money coming to that what are they
supposed to do
%uh
do
Bigham
I diet
do o'clock
here there are some who feel like that
you know the conditions are such that they can attack as their managers bring
them on
I was in the bucket the book it
is on norm are more baby call anything that happen
you gonna get so that nobody wants to be in there
I saw for the blast almost almost directly sir
up that blast and then I came
I I start in the firefight from the Far
to the closest top was tough I'm
we have a limited problem some better enders
some small remnants of the old regime who
are using professional military tactics to attack and kill our soldiers as they
did
this morning we don't think this is a coordinated campaign you know there's no
this is a Google a war been alternately we move there's
the Rays will award as a consequence for that blast
I saw for a penetrating traumatic brain injury
and I i last the procession up the light in my right eye
I E suffer a penetrating my left eye that
get me a Mac Lahore in the retina
and will we fight we fight all too long to we hear the cease-fire
house a goner and my driver lost both his legs
and injected me out and now
a separate a.m. fractured Famer nearly lost my right arm
and clap song in Tom close payable and
I have since gone to the dictionary and I am looked up
several things one of which I can immediately recapture but one was
a guerrilla war another was insurgency in other words
a unconventional war pardon me work
no that someone else's business quagmire so I don't do quite Myers
a guy I know music counterinsurgency expert
he was at the palace where the CPA is headquartered
and he was talking to an army colonel
his desk was right outside members office any said
eastward insurgency and the army colonel held up his hand and said
there is no insurgency in Iraq there is a high level up domestic violence
the security problem increasingly
aid into our ability to do our job I had hoped
to establish some neighborhood advisory councils
based rejected generals gave probably the most coherent
briefing on the structure and organization
love any fifteen hundred year old city that I think anyone could have gotten
one of them launched all to
this plan for neighborhood Advisory Group
he had this whole grass roots bottom-up democratization
thing nailed it wasn't absolutely
beautiful planet and what happened to it he was assassinated
in the country slipping more more under control the entire time
I think in some ways bremmer his aides no
how bad things were getting outsider the blast walls
headquartered in Saddam's former Republican Palace the CPA compound
called the Green Zone
was shielded by seven miles a blast walls to a huge lines
iraqis engineers public officials
people just want to help to translate
standing in line at the gates of the palace
May 28 and not been written by anyone just all go away
can come back these people came there and tried once in two to three times and
I gave up
I absolutely hated the Green Zone I got out every chance I could
to meet with the Rockies and sit in their homes and hear their complaints
and their farts
and I would come back and tell dance more you have a problem
you not communicating to the iraqis version only
be sends me a little spoke Arabic what counts
maybe 5-6 a month among the top
40 fifties seventy officials we had regional experts who had served
in iraq but is has been documented many of them
were not involved in the initial parche after the invasion of Iraq in the
initial occupation
so that expertise was lost tell us how your time there
ended um understands me
did too sensitive subject say what you're comfortable saying
I'm plus a that'd it
it ended much sooner than I had anticipated and ended
much sooner than i I would have wanted home
I really would have liked to have stayed in and tried to you
given all he had given her frustrations and the limitations it was still a very
worthwhile place to be now and worthwhile thing to be trying to do
you know why she was hard the I know why
have I was told was it and she was difficult to get on with them she had
was offering opinions or counter to the prevailing wisdom in bag at the time
we were getting new people in afterburner showed up
kids right out of college
you know they have a baccalaureate degree
just got it before better
previous spring daddy made a contribution to the campaign
so the kid gets a chance to go over and experience some fun travel and adventure
home pretty boys that's what I call them
they sat around Broomes front door and did nothing
during the course my time in and in the green zone when I was in the past I
bumped into one of my sons
just graduated as to what she is doing and
she said well I couldn't believe her luck I'm being asked to
to do the traffic plan for the city and I'm
and after she had any training new school planning she said now
so she's pressure to school and had been put in charge of something quite
complicated to say the least and being an embankment traffic and you as a
parent
must officials that were on three-month contracts
as soon as somebody would develop the appropriate relationships with the
iraqis
in ninety days 108 120 days to go home
and that is a terrible way to run an organization
there was a very strong on preference
on the on by the Pentagon to have American
companies doing the work and there are
numerous instances where local Iraqi contractors
proposed that they could do pieces at work for much much less than
in fact the American contractors could have done
and I took a very different approach to our work than many coalition units have
because we word very very closely with the iraqis
if we're sitting in a meeting at ways Americans
and iraqis and the iraqis had just as much
say is we did we were building border forts right next to force being put up
by the Army Corps of Engineers
that big American contractor Parsons I mean we are forced design-build
and dedicated a period of about five months I think we left the Parsons force
which had been started maybe year before we arrived we're still not finished
while
of
the
of the military officers would often be out in the field expanding the the small
amount of funds that they had
for immediate action to say clean up the street
affects some temporary improvements in the sewage system
once the military it expanded its small amount over money to do that
it would come back to CPA we need this this and this for these projects and
it's going to cost as much and so forth and
to disappear it would simply disappear
what happen to my request what request in this happen
over and over again of
eighteen billion dollars that was committed by congress
arm was really misconceived
and misspent if it was spent it all we expect to produce enough electricity for
all Iraqis to have electrical service 24 hours daily
something essential to their hopes for the future
it was fraud there was corruption om
there was waste I'm
the ordinary people have that and
first on before 2002 our city water comes
every like now and then every two or three days we spend
want to shivering covered in blankets because we didn't have enough fuel to
war
offering the and that he does that's
thats that's the life with it
in May 2003 the united nations sent its best expert in post-war reconstruction
to help the US occupation
he was a Brazilian diplomat name Sergio Vieira de Mello
even though the UN was given nothing meaningful to do
coffin and supplements and my best if anybody can
carve out a bigger role for the UN its my guy
it surgery on and on you know was part of his tee you now his
principle political adviser at that time
went together to back it up no political team
we're all a bit speakers and we'd good experience working in
in the region and so on when he's a tard you did that is very very poignant in
retrospect is that
seen that the United States had boarded itself up
in the green zone and was not accessing the iraqi Street
Sergio created a structure in Iraq that was precisely the opposite in the green
zone
Michael the anti Green Zone come listen I'm listening to political
leaders
although meeting with them on a daily basis who had
various discussions with his military who came to the UN
and met with surgery at the men on
ask him you know to mediate in the dispute that they have
with the CPAP you have these long long lines right outside the region but they
could not make their complaints felt
in in the UN compound by contrast was incredibly porous
if you wanted to complain the UN was was very very eager to hear your complaint
and Sergio saudis his role
to relate those complaints to bremmer at the highest levels in hopes that some
reason to get tended to
before insurgency took root a meeting with him
regularly
and sharing my advice in my experience with him soon as bremmer
had made use upsurge it had made you so the UN
are he had almost no time for the united nations and so what's urgent live
through was two months
I love in effect being used as a vehicle to get to certain segments in iraqi
society
and in for his last month what he endured was not having his phone calls
returned
and so on issues like detention policy hollings was one other
the issues that surgeon raised again and again with Bremer and with
general Sanchez the hearings have prisoners primer would hear none of it
up
be three or four crucial months
after the fall of Baghdad the two mean things the US military was doing on the
ground were
looking for WMD supplies and looking for saddam hussein
process have those searches busting in the doors at night rounding up people
taken and Apple grade having mass arrests really in bettering effect
you happen to be a military aged iraqi in an area of operation with the
american military went into there's a good chance you gonna be
arrested aren't turned is suspected & Surgeons
just have been a military age man and in that area but operation
in many occasions you take the you know the Iraqi man a military each other's
family
you taking the breadwinner
you and your not just him but you and your extended family
because he's probably supporting more than his immediate family
whenever they here the American
helicopters pro-american tax driving in their street
they immediately wake up even if it's like 2 o'clock in the morning
and prepare themselves for the pension because it
it for them this is a usual thing happening even now
new attacks on the american soldiers themselves
and so the responders attacks by going out and trying to find the insurgents
anymore and trying to find the insurgents day sometimes
arrested the wrong person they even sometimes
killed the wrong person are ones people arrested they tended to disappear in the
American military prison system for a long time without a trace their families
couldn't get any word on
it's difficult to understand what it feels like to be an Occupy purse
they point to conceive energy they stop you in a driving
iraqis not understand instructions given to them at
traffic checkpoints they would approach to quickly they will get shot and killed
mostly American units that I spent time with have tried very very hard to always
do the right thing
and to not kill anyone or injure anyone have been arm
intended to are needed to but there's no question that
the wars are messy and this one in Iraq
with the way the insurgency is being waged is particularly so
one after another you have these these have short term decisions which by the
and have 2003 met you had a country with an insurgency underway
up
good
russian-made truck pulled up right outside Sergio
their dollars window and set of just a huge amount
explosives the entire southwestern corner at the UN building collapsed
Sergio was under the rubble and alive for more than three hours
awaiting rescue we lost money colleagues that
moment I think it will slow the sign that something dramatic what happened
country then search had become that lethal
full-fledged ready for my mom struggle and long fight
with the coalition forces
by 2004 the relationship between the military and the Iraqi people
have grown toxic
right the corner where should like character
hard
school
right here home we can use deadly for
we can't use deadly force
few your shit
PC arm all these civilians who come over to work for
on the private contractors who were doing so much to work with the
reconstruction
religious because we don't have enough troops at these
gets have special guests and they're not what these people they have brought
yet and so on they have the right to shoot people just like that
i've seen and of a lot of civilian contractors who have been
particularly violent and arm
and in very short sighted in terms what they're doing
saddam me an internal hard on themselves the whole other issue 1
luckily Asia what month are done the
a saddam and why do not have a conscience
that he was up with a limp amount of money
not to lose only a little
sounding
much
finance
the relief I demand about the guys
by early 2004 for luger a city of 350,000 people
West Baghdad have become the center of the Sunni insurgency
on March 31st 2004
for american military contractors were killed
and their bodies were dragged through the streets of a Luger by cheering
crowds
beginning in early 2004
the National Intelligence Council a powerful 12-person committee that sits
on top america's intelligence community
conducted several assessment serve the growing insurgency
which he presented to the white house and senior administration officials
well we're chronicling worked was a deepening insurgency
who is broadening it was not limited to foreign fighters
or disaffected batters what we called the insurgency really is a multi-faceted
deeply rooted they I it's not just a few
about his dad and uRS is not just a a few extremists from overseas
but rather reflected multiple motivations and frustrations among the
iraqi people themselves
has the economic situation was deteriorating
has people's personal security was becoming
weaker and has resentment at the American occupation was growing
its K played at a
several scenarios it said
white could be lousy life could be okay life could be better
president haven't read it not even the one-page summary
over which we work so hard to produce these findings to single readable page
president and not read even the executive summary correct
they were just
guessing as to what conditions might be like with your estimate
half the number of people in Iraq who have been
active at some level in the insurgency active in some level
if the if you say supporting providing safe haven to
I potentially you know well over a hundred thousand people for
filed
despite the intensification of the insurgency they were still not
sufficient
armored vehicles for american soldiers in Iraq we never had a single armored
Humvee while we are in Iraq
threw out 2003 we went to Iraq in 2004 with
on armored Humvees and they were given armor kits
in kuwait which were just sort of cut out doors with no windows
arm hand the bullet-proof windshield and that's about it
if you're on the hadn't been armored what do you think a damage
that I D would have been I'm think it would been daily why we soldiers
have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal
and compromise ballistic last up armored vehicles and why do we have those
resources readily available to us
it's essentially a matter of Physics it isn't a matter of money
it is a matter on the part of the army %uh desire its it's a matter of
production
and and capability of doing it we have I will be a plant closing down
in america you know I mean a I'm not an
I'm not a factory expertise retool them to to produce a member Tom the
it shouldn't be that difficult you go to war with the army you hang out
another harming you might want or wish to have it at a later time
in November 2004
the pentagon decided to attack for luger in an attempt to recapture the city from
the Sunni insurgency
for losers 350,000 residents were warned to leave
the battle destroys seventy percent of the city and renders a hundred and fifty
thousand people homeless
despite intense combat many insurgents escape
forty marines were killed while the US military was preoccupied with a Luger
Shiite militias were taking over southern iraq
there's nothing like an army your and major
I'm large elements have hundreds of people trying to overthrow where
or to change the situation in August 2004
the holy city of Najaf is taken over by the Mahdi Army
the Shiite militia controlled by muqtada also order
room
essentially that turnover we got from the army unit that we replace was
that most things in Niger for
pretty peaceful except there's this three thousand-man militia force that
occupies the centre
the city in runaround flying on the moors landing
Michael to the the first into the police station
reviews took up positions along side the Iraqi police
and defend it from a Russian but it wasn't until the end of August that we
actually did a full-scale assault
on the old city just to collude
democracy cannot provide for the iraqi people people will say
to help democracy we need a strong man and I can see the strong man already in
the offing
his name is booked at the side and I would say that this is not
a good choice for the future leader earlier where you part
deliberations about whether to
capture or kill more titles hotter yes I was
did we see maternal side as a troublemaker in a thorn in the side
absolutely we wanted to arrest him it was it gets back in my view to the
matter
trip strip the US military wanna be diverted from their major mission
to go after what would have been a good probably short term but difficult to
and I'm sure bloody battle and
ultimately that's what won out after elections were held in iraq on December
15th 2005
the United Iraqi Alliance which Muqtada all starters party is a major
participant
took nearly half the seats in Iraq's central government
that's not easy being a Marine his some you know to my buddies were killed
by him and his militia and now looking Iraq and see him as a rising politician
Thrissur another Shiite group with insiders Alliance
is scary the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq
ski resort leadership lived in Iran for twenty years
and is frequently pro-iranian
these two Shiite group which sometimes engage in armed combat with each other
are politically allied against soon group Muqtada al solders Mahdi Army
continues to clash with US forces I'll
level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint I think
curly decline I think they're in the in the last throws at you will love the
insurgency
when secretary rumsfeld and
and Vice President Cheney made their comments about the insurgency
dying out being a few defenders Center you
new that the intelligence estimates already
indicated that they were wrong I had been due
iraqi times a new with the facts on the ground were
they'll have to speak and they will be judged by their own
words and actions but to I knew with the fracture
starting in 2005 the administration's slowly began to correct
some other two mistakes it accelerated training up the Iraqi army
and appointed a Muslim diplomat so many calls out
as ambassador I'm in June 2006
ambassador columns out sent an ominous cable to come to Lisa rice
iraqis working for the embassy could not tell their families where they worked
for fear of being killed they ask what will happen if the Americans evacuate
many plan ahead for their own abduction I'm
six months later the day after Republicans lose control of congress
president bush announces Donald Rumsfeld's resignation
the new secretary of defense Robert Gates is a pragmatist who had been
privately critical to war
I am making a change at the secretary defence to bring a fresh perspective
as to how to achieve something I think most Americans want which is a victory
on
me
by the time Rumsfeld has replaced the rock is out of control
the country is increasingly dominated by militias
insurgents criminals and warlords mixed areas are purged by ethnic cleansing
Shiite militias have infiltrated the police using them for sectarian killings
kidnappings and violent deaths have reached several hundred
per day go and move the ball
Garnett outlets in the we have so many kinds of militia
you have the multi-millions your you have the bed that means they have many
uses in this country
and the all on her the democratic reform
at least some people and Kim
security is terrible and many neighborhoods
where the ever-present threat of car bombs and ID's
was with the unabomber hand
on in the world No up with no think it'll be
who is this love the bulbous open
the heart a blog moving within the heinous crime and you
I didn't like my 30 Morgan kidnappings especially
sheer money-making gangster stuff kidnapping over
or small boat ride from the hotel you know car just stopped grab the boy and
drove off
parents get around to note in all somehow have to raise as much money in a
week
it's not what you just have one or two or three kidnappings because 100
and you get overwhelmed on my phone I would probably a military man nothing
them a honeymoon but no I'm you know you will do it anymore you know to whom and
what I did have a good man and I'm going on
just a delusion individuals who are
asking for helper or or soon don't
ask for help anymore why reported to the police one we don't trust 'em
to they may be committing some other crime uniformed use just
perforated all over the place so you really have watsup
rogue elements and people better using your working into the guys in the
security services
now you can see people usted once menso sis
we don't know more on fake checkpoints and the street style
people passing and look into their ID's and see if they were
shots sony's kurds arabs and then
you know can have them out tell them and the same place
when I said goodbye to my husband
I think I'm not going up
by late 2006 Baghdad had fallen into your anarchy
the US military controlled the Green Zone
and the area around Baghdad Airport iraqi security forces controlled areas
in the east and south
the Sunni militias controlled several predominately Sunni neighborhoods
Moqtada al solders Mahdi Army dominated large areas
including the enormous Shiites love Soccer City scary throw ball Shiite
militia
the bottom brigade controlled wealthier Shiite areas
neighborhood organizations controlled many small zones
large areas were essentially controlled by no one
if
0 I'll
from a study conducted by Harvard professor Linda Bilmes
and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz as a bit early 2007
the US has spent 379 billion dollars directly on the war in Iraq
future operating costs are estimated at $389 billion dollars
the costs a veteran's health care and lost productivity
those serving in Iraq is $482 billion dollars
the costs of demobilization and replacing military equipment
which is being used up six times faster than normal is a hundred and sixty
billion dollars
the increase in oil prices do the war have cost the US economy
400 and fifty billion dollars and
in total the economic cost to the war is projected to reach 1.8
trillion dollars I'm
suffering from most dramatic migraines
and post-traumatic epilepsy sometimes
I have Batman what he's
a while hopping but I am NOT scare them
do you feel emotionally okay home
some time to slow I'm
sometimes yes sometimes no
still have troll you know dealing with them
home house will have my apartment now sometimes
the big big cost
in terms of veterans disability is for the many hundreds of thousands of people
who come back
and they find that they can't work and hold down a job in the way they used to
because they're just not quite the same as they were before
how hot does it get in this country his 120 yesterday
up
mascot checked I ever sign ago I solutions have been there now on the
third jury duty
and someone don't see an end to it they think they'll be back there for their
fifth sixth and seventh was a duty before the sands
we don't have enough troops how could we protect against a possible conflict in
Pyongyang
a possible conflict with Iran other potentialities in the world what we've
got everything tied up
with regard to Iraq and Afghanistan Iran is
Ardley given %ah
how much we dislike the Iranian regime
the single greatest beneficiary the war in Iraq
we eliminated their historic enemy for them and put them on top
and no Persian Gulf I mean when you have
massive civil war violent nasty civil war on top with twenty percent the world
oil supply that will probably engulf other regional players Iran Saudi Arabia
Jordan and Syria maybe even Egypt iraq
disintegrates and becomes an arena of
single much we could become like the kingdom
I'm its wearer terrorists all over the world would find
refuge iraq goes back to some sort of
Islamic fascist regime like we had in
under the Taliban in Afghanistan
and we're back to September the town 2001 acceptance
much larger scale and
to let the dogs in all mine in their disposal when we were first starting
the reconstruction way you would serve joked that they were five hundred ways
to do it wrong
territory ways to do it right what we in understands that we were
can go through all five hundred what do you think all those mistakes for me
I don't know I have no idea puzzling president bush
was missing in action on the planning for the post-war
he deferred to his vice president and the secretary of defense
the control over those decisions why on earth
if you were present in the United States would you plan to use military force and
then divorce yourself from essentially the
most important aspect love that use and that is the aftermath who is in charge
this war
I don't wanna go through all this time it was he was the president the
vice-president secretary defence
those around around all those people do you include national security adviser
for the vice president you include now
that was the dinner team that produced
the thinking behind the war my mistake was probably not find a way to get
myself more involved in the planning process
this so that the dissolution the army would have been a surprise visit
well I'm accuray still about my day in court I'm a loss but that money
system ought to be participatory
and ought to include people are going to say this
this makes no sense mister president
this is a bad idea I don't think that kind of decision making process
existed him the Bush administration hi sorry didn't feel my soft participating
in such a decision making price the administration never asked for any
estimator community assessment Iraq before we went to war
nobody seem to be interested in
with community had to say I think it's more a matter that mines were made up
the time
the course was set whatever
analysis on these sorts of issues was too
and the decision-makers felt they had already done it themselves
Vice President Cheney of course is made takes me the same positions at Secretary
Rumsfeld it on the war
does he still have your complete competency don't expect him to stay
campaign is over yes he does and he'll be here for the remaining see well
there are nights when I don't sleep very well
that I for myself for not pushing the issue
and I think I shoulda gone kicked his door and into
damnit listen this was a mistake we need to do something to rectify it
but I never had the opportunity to do it
and trying to kick in the door you know with ambassador whose
essentially the you know those are above iraq
you know for colonel to try and do it just wasn't going to happen you couldn't
get past the front door
if my speaking out heads even in them infinitesimally
to the criticism that counts
this administration then that's good I don't pretend to say that I'm
have been effective in that regard but I i just can't hold my peace any longer
we will bring to the iraqi people food
and medicines and supplies
and freedom
and
would be
in
0
here
1
any just was Henny Penny the sky is falling
general Gardenhire
pledged to working very closely together
there is a large number of love former Iraqi soldiers are unemployed now
one was group or another was insurgency in other words
a unconventional war Henry
where'd in
their someone else's business quagmire
I don't do quite merged
knife I'm listen I'm listening to political
news
well
someday my life in the future
I gotta look back to iraq and I gotta see something done
in there so I can look back and said
I was fired this in my suffering
in my last I'll have a
have a meanie
I'll
the situation gets better I'm going
I'm
no on the front that me on my and
back
from here we can't change anything because it's
it's out of control now I don't have future plans
are being in Iraq I don't see the
and bit of flight and the at the end of the tunnel yet
this is what it is this is how we live in this is how we see it this is how we
smell it
and feel it is not a situation that you can say
let's try this it will help strike this it will help no it's not
and then you tell me that's the best America can do
no don't don't tell me that don't tell that
the Marines who fought for a month and not have that
don't tell the Marines who who are still fighting every day and pollution that
that's the best America can do
that makes me angry
well
I'll
I'll held
I'll
head
on
ok
on
up
0
and
me
I'll
me
and of