U.S.: We Underestimated Iraq's Resilience

[Spazito]

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department underestimated its enemy in the Iraq (news - web sites) war, failing to predict how resilient Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his government would be, the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s No. 2 official said Tuesday.


Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz also said it's impossible to say how long a large American military force will have to stay in Iraq after political power is handed to Iraqis on June 30.


Wolfowitz spoke at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, the latest called by lawmakers worried about the Bush administration's handling of the war and reconstruction so far and about its plans for the future.


Answering a question about miscalculations made to date in the year-old campaign, Wolfowitz said: "I would say of all the things that were underestimated, the one that almost no one that I know of predicted ... was to properly estimate the resilience of the regime that had abused this country for 35 years."

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&e=19&u=/ap/us_iraq

[aquart]

1. Are they insane? (Rhetorical question.)

Saddam and his government are GONE. The "resilience" is in the Iraqi people. And they want us gone.

[aquart]

2. Are they insane? (Rhetorical question.)

Saddam and his government are GONE. The "resilience" is in the Iraqi people. And they want us gone.

[Mountainman]

3. "the regime that had abused this country for 35 years"

What a crock! I heard last night that the thing that this war has done was to unite all the various factions in Iraq against us. Is Wolfie saying that all factions were part of the regime that had abused itself for 35 years?

[Nancy Waterman]

5. The cluelessness is just astounding!!

eom

[Richardo]

4. "Impossible to say..."

"How many troops"
"How much money"
"How long it'll take"

What DO these f*ckwads know?

I'll tell you one thing: if I gave those non-answers after spending $200 billion and having killed nearly 800 of my fellow citizens, would I have a job?

[Alpharetta]

6. He's lying. This is misdirection.

He knew the intelligence he got from Chalabbi et. al was bad, but he used it anyway as part of generating reasons for the war.

Wolfowitz knew resistance would be worse than what Chalabi said. Wolfowitz knew Saddam planned a decentralized Sunni guerilla resistance. He knew the Sunnis had stashed guns and RPGs for post-invasion warfare.

What he's not admitting: He overestimated US ability to identify the Sunni resistance.

One bit of truth:
Had he gone to Vietnam instead of dodging the draft, he might have known how hard it would be to identify the resistance.

[Misunderestimator]

8. Misindirection

[saigon68]

16. Actually wolfie is a FUCKING DRAFT-DODGER

and clueless

[Beetwasher]

7. Hey Wolfie You Moron! You Just Gave Falluja Back to that Abusive Regime!

Idiot!

[Spazito]

9. I keep thinking there isn't anything more they could say or do that...

would make me have to lift my chin off the table and then I read this article and Wolfowitz's words and, damn, there goes my chin again.

[orthogonal]

10. They mean, "misunderestimated"

Mission Accomplished!

[Disturbed]

11. WTF?

The weasles in congress just sit there and nod or nod off
in response to these vapid answers.

[yellowcanine]

12. "almost no one that I know of predicted "(resilience)

Lying sack of shit! Lots of people predicted the resilience of the regime. He just didn't want to hear of it. Man it steams me that the Bush bots are now taking the line that no one could know there would be no WMDs, that no one could know there would be so much resistance, etc., etc. Wolfie himself pooh poohed the idea that many more troops were needed for the aftermath of the war. I just can't stand it that the media is not all over the story of the massive deception and miscalculation that the Bushies made - deceptions and miscalculations that have cost American and Iraqi lives and maimed thousands of others.

[calimary]

14. Sounds like contradicta "no one could have IMAGINED that..."

with all her ALLEGED brains, she couldn't have imagined this. And wolfowitz - SHEESH! Well, when you have your blinders surgically attached at an early age (or maybe he was just born with 'em), what else can we expect?

[cliss]

18. Absolutely right, YC.

When I was reading down this thread, I remember an awesome post by Teryang that outlined exactly what was going to happen. When it would happen, and how it would happen. He was absolutely right. And here this moron who has visited Baghdad, dodged a bomb in his hotel, makes it his job to know these things, gets paid probably millions, and still is completely clueless.

By the way, I called the White House today demanding Rumsfeld's ouster. I'm going to call them every day until that bastard is gone.

[are_we_united_yet]

13. Paul......

YOU'RE FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[saigon68]

15. Wolfowitz is an idiot

He obtains arousal through violence similar to a rapist.

[Aidoneus]

17. arrogance so insulated that there was no prediction of resistance?!

They have studied no history (or gleaning nothing from it), have no decent analyitical thought process, foresight, hindsight, do not listen to those around them that say the wrong things.. how in the unholy fuck is it that the empire they partly represent has come to rule over the world?

[daleo]

19. As everybody knew, the June 30 handover is meaningless

"On Tuesday, Wolfowitz also said that the next year to 18 months will be critical in Iraq because it will take that long to stand up fully trained and equipped Iraqi security forces and to elect a representative government."

[htuttle]

20. "things were underestimated"

By WHO Paul? By WHO?

There's that passive voice construction they use all the time: 'mistakes were made'...all by themselves.

[Ganja Ninja]

21. I listened to some of his testimony yesterday on NPR.

At one point he says "I think it's unfortunate that American troops have been labeled occupiers."

How could you expect anything else? I know these guys aren't that stupid. I know that if you repeat a lie often enough some people will begin to believe it. But they keep acting as if the spin and the propaganda if repeated often enough will actually change reality itself. If I were sitting on the panel asking him questions it would be hard for me not to tell him to cut the crap.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. The True Purpose Is Revealed

The real reason we went there is to establish a more or less permanent military presence in the Middle East. Now, our reason is "we screwed up, so we have to stay." The real reason is that we intended this the whole time!
The Professor

[TheWizardOfMudd]

23. What's this "WE" shit?

"We" underestimated nothing. The idiots in the White House did. Assuming, that is, that they are not evil morons who want perpetual war, which is a strong possibility.

Who among us did not know that needlessly invading Iraq was tantamount to jabbing a stick into a giant hornet's nest?

"We" my ass!

[booksenkatz]

24. Dang, they should've called me first

I'm just an average jane who scrambles daily to inform herself about world events; but even I knew that an unwarranted invasion of another country would be a clusterfark.