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