Rice admits 'mistakes' in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1882971,00.html

Rice admits 'mistakes' in Iraq


<snip>

She said "large portions" of the Iraqi infrastructure had been modernised and about 227 000 "quality" Iraqi troops had been trained and equipped to battle a raging insurgency alongside US forces.

But the chief US diplomat admitted that the process of raising an Iraqi army and police force had got off to a bumpy start.
"To be fair, we made a mistake earlier. We relied on number rather than on quality," she said.

Efforts to mount effective Iraqi security forces are a key part of the US administration's exit strategy for the eventual withdrawal of the approximately 150 000 US troops in the country.

But military officials say that of the 227 000 trained and equipped Iraqis, fewer than 100 000 have been organised into battalions as fighting forces.

[JeffR]

1. As Charlton Heston said, referring to Bill Clinton

"When what you say is wrong, that's a mistake. When you know it's wrong, that's a lie."

[ladjf]

2. Rice is the master of the "self-evident" remarks.

[applegrove]

3. Number rather than quality? Because they relied on private corporation

to do the training. A corporation created on the spur of the moment to get the contract.

So Rice - does this mean neocondomism doesn't work?

[Betsy Ross]

4. Whatever number of trained troops

Do we count the ones that have been killed as a result of being trained? If for every 10 you train, 8 get killed on the bus coming to work...

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Do we count the Iraqi troops the went over the fence, too?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. Never forget this. SHE PERSONALLY WAS IN CHARGE.

A few months after Bremer's constant screw-ups, our little emperor assigned her to be in charge of Iraqi reconstruction. NEVER FORGET THAT.
Of course, with her obvious talents, it only got worse, and much faster.

Mistakes? You Bet. The first was giving her any authority. The second was trying to hide that fact by letting her inability go unspoken, unnoticed and ignored.
She is a collection of nonstop excuses, spin and half-truths. The idea that she can be sold to the American public is almost as scare as the fact that Little George is still in charge, after Cheney, that is.


MSM has a lot to answer for. Their collective short memory is amazing. Unless it has something to do with Bill's penis or an out of context statement by Al about the internet.

[Disturbed]

7. Ms Rice is the most dangerous woman on this ...

planet. Anybody disagree with that notion?

[bahrbearian]

14. Mzzm.... wants her to run for prez

[calimary]

18. This is absolutely true. Remember back when all the stories were about

her having a tug-of-war with rumsfeld over the "coordination of post-war Iraq" - and she won?

That's true. Let's not forget this.

I remember saying at the time - "yep, if you want to make sure something gets thoroughly fucked up, put condi on it."

Her much-vaunted brains and PhD from Stanford are certainly not doing her much good. I dunno ... maybe it's the kneepads...

[saigon68]

21. Kneepads

That won't avoid gonorrhea

[rodeodance]

8. she is playing humble-as she needs the 65 billion (+millions for IRaN)

[Up2Late]

9. Here's another report: Rice grilled over Iraq rebuilding (Reuters)

(I still wonder if they are counting those "trained" Iraqis who are DEAD now, due to our "Earlier Mistakes."

Here a couple of other reports. Yeah, she admitted mistakes alright, but not willingly.)

Rice grilled over Iraq rebuilding

Thu Feb 16, 2006 02:42 PM ET

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With water, sewer and electricity services below prewar levels in Iraq, a leading Democrat told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday that patience was waning over the pace and cost of rebuilding efforts. Congress has given more than $20 billion for projects aimed at improving Iraq's dilapidated infrastructure and winning over Iraqis with better utility services, and Rice told lawmakers that conditions were better.

But in three key areas -- access to drinking water, electricity and sewer service -- Iraqis are worse off than before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to statistics released last week by the U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. "We have the inspector general saying things are getting worse even though we have provided a lot of money," said Sen. Kent Conrad. "Who are we to believe?" the North Dakota Democrat asked Rice in a Senate Budget Committee hearing. "I can tell you, patience is wearing thin," he said.

Rice, who had told the committee more Iraqis had access to sewerage and water services than before, argued that what the United States had improved was "capacity" and the United States had made a difference. "I think this may be an issue of whether we are talking about delivery or capacity. We have increased the capacity for clean water for several million Iraqis," she said.

What mattered to Iraqis, Conrad said, was not the potential to get water and electricity but to actually get it. Hampered by constant attacks from insurgents, U.S.-funded reconstruction in Iraq has come under heavy criticism from Congress, from Republicans and Democrats alike who say the Bush administration has massaged statistics to inflate achievements.

(more at link below)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=11244159&src=rss/politicsNews>

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5220078>

Rice, Conrad Face Off Over Water in Iraq

Audio for this story will be available at approx. 7:30 p.m. ET

All Things Considered, February 16, 2006 · In Senate Budget Committee hearings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) have a disagreement about the availability of potable water in post-war Iraq.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. The usual admin song and dance: RESPONSIBILITY WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES

They accept responsibility when truly cornered, but there are never any consequences for responsibility. It's Alice in Wonderland with these autocrats. Responsibility is just a word in their mouth in the last instance. It's like the rental car people on Seinfeld, who take the reservations, but do not keep the reservations. The reservation is all about the keeping of it, not the taking of it. Similarly, responsibility is about the consequences of taking responsibility, not merely taking responsibility with no consequences. Same deal with Chertoff yesterday. The man should have been fired on the spot, cashiered, sent packing, pink slipped and ushered the hell out. Instead, he continues to incompetently lord it over his pseudo-fiefdom, but LAWD LAWD LAWD, he's well and truly taken responsibility. And the right wingers claim to hold the monopoly on morals and values? In the world where responsibility is merely a word to be spoken, ahem, if one absolutely must? One day, people will look back on this time with astonishment and laughter. It will be the way people look back at the dimwitted imbeciles of segregation - most of whom are still chugging along under the banner of the GOP (they left the Democrats when the Democrats left their racist idiocy).

[LynnTheDem]

11. rotflmao!!!

Dear rice;

Fuck off.

[movonne]

12. This sounds like their new talking points (admitting mistakes)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. it is very different saying "mistakes were made" vs. "I made a mistake"

Condi is firmly stuck in the former, not the latter, explanation.

depersonalizing it, talking in the third person like Scalia, is really denying responsibility.

[Up2Late]

13. Here's a report that explains the Electricity situation

It's very long, (15 pages if you know how to make it a readable font),

Re-engineering Iraq

By: Glenn Zorpette
U.S. and Iraqi officials have spent billions on restoring Iraq's electrical system. So why is Baghdad getting just 6 hours of electricity a day?

<http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/feb06/2831>

but basically, the problem is we installed about 57 "Combustion Turbine" electrical generators, but their is no infrastructure to supply fuel to these electrical generators. If they had installed Steam Turbines, that are not as "green," but could go on-line right away, most of the electrical problems would be solved.


If you'd rather hear the author explain this problem, he was interviewed on NPR a few days ago, here's the link:

Rebuilding Iraq's Power Grid

Listen to this story...(at link above)

Talk of the Nation, February 10, 2006 · Nearly three years after the statue of Saddam Hussein fell, and billions of dollars in reconstruction money later, Baghdad is only running on about six hours of electricity a day. A reporter who was embedded with engineers trying to rebuild Baghdad's power grid talks about the experience.

Guest:

Glenn Zorpette, is executive editor of IEEE Spectrum magazine

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5200528>

[Rex]

15. Farce army, farce war, farce administration.

Worst gummit ever.

[Javaman]

17. "about 227 000 "quality" Iraqi troops had been trained"...

Okay, then where the fuck are they????

condi, I have never ever had an original thought in my life ever, rice is now parroting that old worn out rumspuke line of having enough troops trained.

I would love to see the real numbers.

[Rob H.]

19. That's the thing that struck me, too

That number seems a more than a little high to me...and since it's coming from Rice, I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that it's a lie.

[Xenotime]

20. IRAQ IS A MISTAKE....get a clue Rice.