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<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4><A
href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-iraq26oct26.story"><FONT
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<H4>EDITORIAL</H4>
<H1>Worse Than the Usual Bad</H1><BR>October 26, 2004<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>There have been better days in the Iraq war, but not many worse
ones.<STRONG> </STRONG></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>