Friday, July 18, 2003

What's the Frequency, Paul?

I feel sorry for conservatives these days (well, no, not really, but bear with me). Various illusions about what was going to happen in Iraq once the war ended are being systematically demolished. Paul Wolfowitz bears a lot of responsibility for things going awry. Here is a prime quote:

"The so-called forces of law and order (in Baghdad) just kind of collapsed. There is not a single plan that would have dealt with that"

The PROBLEM is NOT that there was no single plan, the PROBLEM is that there was no plan AT ALL. Many outside observers predicted the chaos that removing the Baath party would cause - totalitarian societies depend on fear, and when you remove fear, order collapses (witness the old USSR). Here are various, thoughtful, older articles, by different writers, from just from one magazine (The New Republic) where our current difficulties were easily forseen (1, 2, 3). This is just the tip of the iceberg too. Except by the Administration, most everyone thought trouble was inevitable. Isn't it about time you got a clue, Mr. Wolfowitz?

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