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Wolfie was wildly off the mark or how does Wolfie still have a job?
Some of the highlights -
4. The neo-con priesthood decided that France, Germany and Belgium could easily be relocated to a new continent called 'Old Europe' and replaced by Rumania and Bulgaria as stalwart allies. This snub threatened America's longest standing most durable strategic alliance. Now, with a partial return of sanity, we are all 'Old Europeans'.
6. The neo-con wizards debunked the four star generals who knew that the occupation would require more troops. As a result, General Shinseki was retired and Richard Perle was promoted to senior troop deployment specialist at the Pentagon. Over night, Perle was elevated from chicken hawk to Field Marshal. Ain't it grand to have friends in high places?
8. Wolfowitz prematurely declared that Turkey, with proper financial incentives, would join the fray and open a northern front. Another bad Wolfie call.
9. When that didn't work, the neo-cons were certain that Turkey would at least allow American troops to open a northern front from Turkish soil. After all, what are allies for? Some day we would return the favor by allowing the Turks to invade Vancouver by landing troops in Seattle. Quite a bit of political capital was expended on this effort. Massive economic incentives were dangled before the Turks. Wolfie was so certain that Ankra would give the nod, that he dispatched the troops and their gear off the coast of Turkey and waited for a definite 'yes'. When Ankra refused his bribes, no one bothered to hold him accountable for this mission critical error in judgement. Battle plans had to be redrawn and troops had to be hastily deployed to Kuwait, all at great risk and expense.
10. When Wolfowitz didn't get his way, he warned the Turks that they were making a big mistake. After the war, he went back to politely ask Ankara to send 10,000 troops as peacekeepers. Even the quisling Iraqi Governing Council opposed that notion. Just the same, Turkey was given billions of dollars in aid and loan guarantees for merely considering the idea. Apparently, the word had not yet reached Wolfowitz about the tensions between Iraqi Kurds and the Turkish army. The most recent Turkish scorched earth campaign cost some thirty thousand Kurdish lives. Next time Wolfie decides to play general, he should first consider purchasing some Cliff Notes on the history of the Turkish/Kurdish conflict.
19. The Bush administration now admits that disbanding the Iraqi army was a mistake. Just another 'policy' error.
20. The neo-con cabal was certain that the United Nations would approve a resolution to make their preemptive war legal. When they didn't get it, they regrouped and insisted that a resolution wasn't necessary and that the United Nations was irrelevant. Richard Perle recently admitted that the war was illegal but that international legitimacy didn't matter. If it didn't matter, why did they bother?
23. Wolfie made us believe that one of the benefits of the war would be a decrease in oil prices. They are now at record highs.
25. Insurgents? What insurgents? Rumsfeld and Wolfie, suffering from a bad case of cognitive dissidence, insisted for months that the Iraqi resistance was made up of a finite number of dead enders and Saddam loyalists. Now, we have daily lethal evidence of their bad judgement.
28. In Wolfie's warped vision of a perfect Likudnik world, Iraqis would rally around Ahmed Chalabi, the convicted bank embezzler who was hand picked by Richard Perle and company to play the role of 'Saddam Lite'. Chalabi is still promising a rally at the El Rashid hotel sometime in the distant future. Family and friends are urged to attend.
29. When the Chalabi option disintegrated on contact with reality, the neo-con cabal came up with the Iraqi Governing Council. Only a small minority of Iraqis accept the IGC as legitimate. Most of the IGC ministers now require 24-hour protection in American garrisons. The IGC is now a government in hiding. There is an empty hole somewhere in Tikrit where they might find save haven, now that Saddam has no use for it.
31. According to the neo-con wizards, the war would demonstrate the ability of the United States to achieve quick decisive victories on multiple fronts without breaking a sweat. American Air power would rule the skies of the world. But the Iraqi debacle reinforces older military doctrines regarding the long hard slog of taking and keeping ground.
37. After Saddam's sons were killed, Wolfowitz and gang predicted that the insurgency would fizzle. Instead, it intensified. Not for the love of Qusay or Uday, but because the Iraqi resistance took heart that they were safely out of the way.
38. The neo-con pundits were certain that Saddam was leading the resistance. In fact, Saddam was actively engaged in a bold attempt to get command and control of a shaving kit.
47. As their errors compounded, Wolfie's boys continued recruiting extreme right wing Likudniks into the State Department and Pentagon. The most recent hires were Elliot Abrams of Iran/Contra fame as Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs; Daniel Pipes, an anti-Arab polemicist, for the US institute of Peace; Daniel Wurmser, a fanatic even by neo-con standards, as Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. Wurmser's duties include training Cheney to speak out of the other side of his mouth
Some of the highlights -
4. The neo-con priesthood decided that France, Germany and Belgium could easily be relocated to a new continent called 'Old Europe' and replaced by Rumania and Bulgaria as stalwart allies. This snub threatened America's longest standing most durable strategic alliance. Now, with a partial return of sanity, we are all 'Old Europeans'.
6. The neo-con wizards debunked the four star generals who knew that the occupation would require more troops. As a result, General Shinseki was retired and Richard Perle was promoted to senior troop deployment specialist at the Pentagon. Over night, Perle was elevated from chicken hawk to Field Marshal. Ain't it grand to have friends in high places?
8. Wolfowitz prematurely declared that Turkey, with proper financial incentives, would join the fray and open a northern front. Another bad Wolfie call.
9. When that didn't work, the neo-cons were certain that Turkey would at least allow American troops to open a northern front from Turkish soil. After all, what are allies for? Some day we would return the favor by allowing the Turks to invade Vancouver by landing troops in Seattle. Quite a bit of political capital was expended on this effort. Massive economic incentives were dangled before the Turks. Wolfie was so certain that Ankra would give the nod, that he dispatched the troops and their gear off the coast of Turkey and waited for a definite 'yes'. When Ankra refused his bribes, no one bothered to hold him accountable for this mission critical error in judgement. Battle plans had to be redrawn and troops had to be hastily deployed to Kuwait, all at great risk and expense.
10. When Wolfowitz didn't get his way, he warned the Turks that they were making a big mistake. After the war, he went back to politely ask Ankara to send 10,000 troops as peacekeepers. Even the quisling Iraqi Governing Council opposed that notion. Just the same, Turkey was given billions of dollars in aid and loan guarantees for merely considering the idea. Apparently, the word had not yet reached Wolfowitz about the tensions between Iraqi Kurds and the Turkish army. The most recent Turkish scorched earth campaign cost some thirty thousand Kurdish lives. Next time Wolfie decides to play general, he should first consider purchasing some Cliff Notes on the history of the Turkish/Kurdish conflict.
19. The Bush administration now admits that disbanding the Iraqi army was a mistake. Just another 'policy' error.
20. The neo-con cabal was certain that the United Nations would approve a resolution to make their preemptive war legal. When they didn't get it, they regrouped and insisted that a resolution wasn't necessary and that the United Nations was irrelevant. Richard Perle recently admitted that the war was illegal but that international legitimacy didn't matter. If it didn't matter, why did they bother?
23. Wolfie made us believe that one of the benefits of the war would be a decrease in oil prices. They are now at record highs.
25. Insurgents? What insurgents? Rumsfeld and Wolfie, suffering from a bad case of cognitive dissidence, insisted for months that the Iraqi resistance was made up of a finite number of dead enders and Saddam loyalists. Now, we have daily lethal evidence of their bad judgement.
28. In Wolfie's warped vision of a perfect Likudnik world, Iraqis would rally around Ahmed Chalabi, the convicted bank embezzler who was hand picked by Richard Perle and company to play the role of 'Saddam Lite'. Chalabi is still promising a rally at the El Rashid hotel sometime in the distant future. Family and friends are urged to attend.
29. When the Chalabi option disintegrated on contact with reality, the neo-con cabal came up with the Iraqi Governing Council. Only a small minority of Iraqis accept the IGC as legitimate. Most of the IGC ministers now require 24-hour protection in American garrisons. The IGC is now a government in hiding. There is an empty hole somewhere in Tikrit where they might find save haven, now that Saddam has no use for it.
31. According to the neo-con wizards, the war would demonstrate the ability of the United States to achieve quick decisive victories on multiple fronts without breaking a sweat. American Air power would rule the skies of the world. But the Iraqi debacle reinforces older military doctrines regarding the long hard slog of taking and keeping ground.
37. After Saddam's sons were killed, Wolfowitz and gang predicted that the insurgency would fizzle. Instead, it intensified. Not for the love of Qusay or Uday, but because the Iraqi resistance took heart that they were safely out of the way.
38. The neo-con pundits were certain that Saddam was leading the resistance. In fact, Saddam was actively engaged in a bold attempt to get command and control of a shaving kit.
47. As their errors compounded, Wolfie's boys continued recruiting extreme right wing Likudniks into the State Department and Pentagon. The most recent hires were Elliot Abrams of Iran/Contra fame as Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs; Daniel Pipes, an anti-Arab polemicist, for the US institute of Peace; Daniel Wurmser, a fanatic even by neo-con standards, as Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. Wurmser's duties include training Cheney to speak out of the other side of his mouth
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