America's Failure in Iraq

America’s Failure In Iraq: Intervention to Withdrawal 1991-2010 explores the involvement of the United States in Iraq beginning with the Gulf War of 1991 under the ‘leadership’ of President George H.W. Bush and Colin Powell. It continues through the post-war years of the United Nations sanctions that destroyed the Iraqi economy the events of September 11 2001 and the ineptitude of our nation’s senior leadership including Colin Powellagain that culminated with the US invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003.. The abrupt ending of the Gulf War by the ?rst President Bush was one of the worst political-military decisions in our nation’s history. But the invasion of Iraq by his son 12 years later for no valid reason and with a fraction of the forces needed to properly execute the mission militarily led the United States into a ‘mini-Vietnam’ scenario that has split our nation down the middle—again. The radical left who were in college (or diapers in the case of Barack Hussein Obama) during Vietnam are now running the country and using the same justi?cation for turning Americaon its head today as they did then.. What Mike O’Brien observed while based in Baghdad and traveling throughout the country of Iraq made him realize the ‘reconstruction’ of the country primarily the Ministries of Defense and Interior the two security ministries of the Iraqi government responsible for the safety and security of the nation and its people is a sham. These same two ministries had beendisbanded by Paul Bremer head of the Coalition Provisional Authority the CPA rendering Iraq defenseless against the insurgency that was to follow. The Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq or MNSTC-I under the command of US Army Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey was theCoalition unit responsible for the ‘transition’ of Iraq’s two securityministries into effective military and police forces. Yet General Dempsey never invited the Iraqis from the Ministry of Defense to his monthly Transition Readiness Assessment brie?ng the entiretime he was in Iraq—until his last one before leaving for the United States. The Iraqis had no say in the developmentof their security infrastructure or in anything else the US-led Coalition was doing. Yet General George Casey commander of all Coalition forces in Iraq said for two and a half years the Iraqiscould take over their country any time they wanted. The waste of US money is beyond belief while the incompetence of American military and diplomatic personnel and civilian contracting ?rmsis deplorable. Add to this the complete failure of the US political and military leadership to protect the Iraqi population for four years after an invasion that was based on fantasy.. Because of the abysmal planning for the invasion of Iraq (the small number of US forces needed to execute the operationsuccessfully) and inaction on the part of President Bush and his advisors to adapt to the deteriorating situation for four years hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead who would be alive today if we had not invaded at all. Only the ‘surge’ implemented by President Bush after waiting for General George Casey to dosomething for two and a half years began to curtail the slaughter of Iraqi civilians whose country we invaded to save from Saddam Hussein. To believe we can transition from Coalition dominance and control of the country over to Iraqi control of its own destiny in the midst of a civil war and a terrorist killing ?eld created after we disbanded its two security ministries is a farce at best and a disappointing exercise in futility at worst.