Post - Iraq 1/3

Rajiv Chandrasekaran, writing the first of three articles on Iraq in the Post, lays out the precise reasons why the U.S. has failed:

*Iraq's Army is a third of the size we promised it would be.
*Only 30% of police officers have received any training
*We have hired 15,000 of the 250,000 Iraqis we said we would employ for reconstruction.
*Only 20% of the aid package has been spent
*The Military and CPA resent and blame the other for the failure.
*Attacks on the occupation have tripled since January.
*85% of Iraqis lack confidence in the CPA.
*80% of Iraqis have positive views of Sadr.
*Bremer focused on conservative political agenda instead of delivering services.
*The CPA was staffed by GOP political hacks unqualified for the job.
*Baghdad's Daura power plant has only gotten worse.
*Even with second largest oil reserves, Iraq is forced to import oil.
*The reconstruction process launched late.
*Many reconstruction projects have slowed or stopped because of a lack of security.
*American companies are the primary beneficiaries of the reconstruction.
*62,000 Iraqi police officers have yet to receive any training.
*We lack the troops necessary for securing the country.
*By disbanding the Iraqi army, we grew the insurgency.
*The Iraqi police lack basic equipment such as radios, vehicles, and sidearms.
*Sistani was ignored until the CPA was forced to accept most of his demands.
*There is little contact between the CPA and Iraqis.
*Stratcom ignores Iraq to focus on re-electing Bush.

In short, the piece explains how letting of a bunch of neo-conservative, Bush crusaders occupy a country in the middle east has resulted in chaos. It suggests that when we leave Iraq, having failed in everything we set out to do, Iraq will probably scrap the current temporary constitution and plunge into civil war.


- Bob Brigham
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