[Vision2020] 10-26-04 LA Times OP/ED: Worse Than the Usual Bad

[Carl Westberg]

Speaking of credibility, last week Dan forwarded an opinion piece by a 
Central Washington University political science professor in support of 
George W. Bush.  I just realized that Central Washington University plays 
Division II football.  How can you take anyone seriously who teaches at a 
university that plays Division II football?                                  
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
            Carl Westberg Jr.

>From: "Dan Carscallen" <predator75 at moscow.com>
>To: "'Vision 2020'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] 10-26-04 LA Times OP/ED:  Worse Than the Usual 
>Bad
>Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 11:53:47 -0700
>
>well, we shouldn't have to worry about them using said explosives to
>detonate nuclear weapons, because there aren't any there . . .
>
>right?
>
>DC
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
>[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Art Deco aka W. Fox
>Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:52 AM
>To: Vision 2020
>Subject: [Vision2020] 10-26-04 LA Times OP/ED: Worse Than the Usual Bad
>
>
>http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-iraq26oct26.story
>EDITORIAL
>Worse Than the Usual Bad
>
>October 26, 2004
>
>The confirmation Monday that U.S. forces in Iraq failed to prevent the
>looting of 380 tons of conventional explosives represents a new chapter
>for the "just when you thought things could not get much worse" file.
>Further, the execution-style murder Saturday of dozens of Iraqis being
>trained as soldiers, the very men to whom the United States planned to
>transfer the job of guarding the country, demonstrates an abject failure
>by Iraqis and occupation officials to learn from past mistakes.
>
>The International Atomic Energy Agency announced Monday what it told the
>interim Iraqi government and the Bush administration earlier this month:
>High-powered explosives that could demolish buildings, bring down
>aircraft or detonate nuclear weapons have disappeared from a former
>Iraqi army site about 30 miles south of Baghdad. A Pentagon official
>said troops searched the site soon after the March 2003 invasion and
>found the explosives that had previously been counted by the United
>Nations. But U.S.-led coalition forces failed to guard the site, and the
>explosives later disappeared.
>
>President Bush has repeatedly said his generals have not told him they
>need more than the 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. But it's now clear that
>Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his Pentagon colleagues should
>have listened to Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff,
>when he warned that "several hundred thousand" troops would be required
>to win the peace as well as the war. Instead, Rumsfeld and his deputy,
>Paul Wolfowitz, disparaged Shinseki and shoved him aside.
>
>The ineptness of the Pentagon's civilian leadership surfaced as well in
>its confused attack-and-retreat from the Sunni stronghold of Fallouja.
>Times reporters Alissa J. Rubin and Doyle McManus reported Sunday that
>after the March 31 killing and mutilation of four American security
>guards, a Marine general said that rather than besiege the city out of
>anger, his troops should first enlist moderates to provide intelligence.
>Rumsfeld did not tell Bush of the Marines' objections, and the president
>authorized the attack. Yet when the Marines reported that they were
>close to retaking the city, the White House, worried about backlash,
>ordered a cease-fire. Fallouja remains under insurgent control and is
>the base of one of Iraq's main terrorist leaders, Abu Musab Zarqawi.
>
>Zarqawi's followers claimed responsibility for the Saturday attack on
>the unarmed army recruits. Rebels dressed as police or soldiers stopped
>three vehicles, ordered the passengers out and shot them. Iraqi police
>and military trainees have been targets for months. The recruits should
>have been protected by other soldiers or given weapons to defend
>themselves.
>
>The U.S. military prides itself on the lessons it learns in combat. Yet
>the continued assaults on Iraqi police and military trainees, and the
>evidence that insurgents keep infiltrating those squads, indicate a
>failure to adapt tactics to an increasingly powerful and sophisticated
>enemy.
>
>There have been better days in the Iraq war, but not many worse ones.
>
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