Iraq War: "A Litany of Errors"

Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has out a brand-spanking-new paper on the disaster known as the Iraq War: American Strategic, Tactical and Other Mistakes in Iraq: A Litany of Errors (CSIS) 04/19/06. Cordesman has been a supporter of the Iraq War, and still supports Bush's basic "stay the course" kamikaze strategy, as his concluding paragraphs indicate:

The US cannot go back and change its behavior in Iraq, and in many cases it cannot now compensate for past errors. Its best hope is to pursue the strategy it is already pursuing - in spite of risks that at best offer an even chance of limited success. The US can, however, learn two things from this litany.

The first is that the US cannot hope to succeed by understating problems and risks, and especially cannot succeed without providing the necessary commitment in terms of time and resources. National security challenges cannot be "spun" into victory. They must be honestly addressed, hard decisions must be taken, and the necessary resources must be provided.

The second is that [the] Iraq [War] has exposed a wide range of faults and shortcomings in the US security apparatus that involve a wide range of departments and both civilians and the US military. If the US is ever to repeat an experience like Iraq, or successfully fight what it now calls the "long war" against terrorism and extremism, it needs ruthless self honesty and objectivity. A list of problems is not a list of solutions, but it is an essential first step in finding them. (my emphasis)

Maybe he should have called his paper, "How badly can the Republican Party and our infallible generals screw up a war?"

At best, he says, the Bush policy offers an even chance of limited success. Something tells me that Karl Rove will not select "An Even Chance of Limited Success" as a fall campaign slogan.

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