Re: Hurricane Ahmed -- Mark Steyn


"The Chozen Few" <thechosenfew@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:rEnSe.158597$E95.133583@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> >> >
> >> > <snip>
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> > To be sure, we shouldda done this, and we shouldda done that. Yet
> >> >> > nonetheless Iraq advances day by day. The real quagmire is at home,
> >> >> > where the kinkily gleeful relish of defeatism manifested by Cindy
> >> >> > Sheehan,
> >> >> > Joan Baez, Ted Kennedy et al. bears less and less relationship to
> >> >> > anything happening over there. Iraq's future is a matter for the
> >> >> > Iraqis
> >> >> > now
> >> >> > -- which, given the U.S. media, Democrat blowhards like Joe Biden
> >> >> > and
> >> >> > Republican squishes like Chuck Hagel, is just as well.
> >> >> > ========================================================
> >> >> >
> >> >> > "We shouldda done this, and we shouldda done that." As
> >> >> > everyone with 20/20 hindsight can clearly see. And, there's
> >> >> > never any shortage of folks so equipped. LOL.
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> I think that even 20/200 hindsight would be clear enough for some of
> >> >> the
> >> >> things "we shouldda done" (or not done) in Iraq since the invasion,
> >> >
> >> > True. But, 20/200 hindsight is still hindsight.
> >>
> >>
> >> Some of the mistakes were clearly mistakes even at the time they were
> >> being
> >> made -- clearly, that is, to almost everyone but the people immediately
> >> involved in making them. For instance, when Bremer put the entire Iraqi
> >> military on the unemployment line (I keep coming back to that one) soon
> >> after his arrival in Iraq, he reportedly did so against the advice of
> >> most
> >> of his in-country staff.
> >
> > I'll agree that, in retrospect, that seems to have been a mistake.
> > I say "seems", rather than "clearly seems", because my level of
> > confidence, I believe, is somewhat less than yours. But, perhaps
> > your hindsight is somewhat better than mine :>)
>
>
> I thought firing the entire Iraqi military was a monumental blunder as soon
> as I read about it. Didn't you?

Call me shortsighted or uninformed, but actually, no, I didn't. At
the time, it seemed like a perfectly natural, common sense thing
to do to a defeated enemy army.

Now, you suggest that most of Bremer's in-country staff was
against it -- a suggestion I've heard elsewhere, so it's probably
correct. And, you suggest it was a monumental blunder -- a
suggestion I've seen from a lot of other pretty smart folks like
yourself, so it may well be correct, too.

So, while in retrospect I'm inclined to agree with you, no, it
wasn't obvious to me at the time. I think I would have done
what Mr. Bremer did, heaven help me :>)

>
> >> >> but Steyn makes some excellent points as usual.
> >> >
> >> > He writes extremely well, has a biting -- perhaps a bit dark --
> >> > sense of humor that appeals to me, and certainly offers a
> >> > unique perspective. He may be dead wrong about some
> >> > things, but he's rarely boring :>)
> >>
> >>
> >> Agreed.
>
>
>
>
>
>


.

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