Another cheerleader for the war sees the light

[CatWoman]

Good Intentions Gone Bad
NEWSWEEK's Baghdad bureau chief, departing after two years of war and American occupation, has a few final thoughts.

By Rod Nordland

NewsweekJune 13 issue - Two years ago I went to Iraq as an unabashed believer in toppling Saddam Hussein. I knew his regime well from previous visits; WMDs or no, ridding the world of Saddam would surely be for the best, and America's good intentions would carry the day. What went wrong? A lot, but the biggest turning point was the Abu Ghraib scandal. Since April 2004 the liberation of Iraq has become a desperate exercise in damage control. The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib alienated a broad swath of the Iraqi public. On top of that, it didn't work. There is no evidence that all the mistreatment and humiliation saved a single American life or led to the capture of any major terrorist, despite claims by the military that the prison produced "actionable intelligence."

The most shocking thing about Abu Ghraib was not the behavior of U.S. troops, but the incompetence of their leaders. Against the conduct of the Lynndie Englands and the Charles Graners, I'll gladly set the honesty and courage of Specialist Joseph Darby, the young MP who reported the abuse. A few soldiers will always do bad things. That's why you need competent officers, who know what the men and women under their command are capable of—and make sure it doesn't happen.

Living and working in Iraq, it's hard not to succumb to despair. At last count America has pumped at least $7 billion into reconstruction projects, with little to show for it but the hostility of ordinary Iraqis, who still have an 18 percent unemployment rate. Most of the cash goes to U.S. contractors who spend much of it on personal security. Basic services like electricity, water and sewers still aren't up to prewar levels. Electricity is especially vital in a country where summer temperatures commonly reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet only 15 percent of Iraqis have reliable electrical service. In the capital, where it counts most, it's only 4 percent.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8101422/site/newsweek/

[underpants]

1. Having a hard time washing the blood off your hands there Rod?

I've heard it can take years. Some people never get it all the way off.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. He's an idiot. The war in Iraq went wrong from the get-go.

Everything about it was TAINTED. The true rationale, the lies lies and more lies, the unprepared and inadequate force, the profiteering, the ignorance, etc etc.....

[Walt Starr]

3. "the liberation of Iraq has become a desperate exercise in damage control"

That says it all.

[maxsolomon]

4. Air conditioning was invented in the 20's, right?

"Electricity is especially vital in a country where summer temperatures commonly reach 125 degrees Fahrenheit."

given that iraq is the oldest civilization on the planet, and all but 80 of those years were spent WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONING OR ELECTRICITY, you're confusing a WANT with a NEED.

[upsidedownaussie]

8. yeah but...

Most of those years didn't involve a couple of million people crammed into an urban heat island.
and, you know, the.. umm.. ability to go outside without getting blown to pieces probably helps too.

just sayin'

:)


EDIT for my inability to spell

[Up2Late]

12. I agree, and draining the Southern Wetlands didn't help either

I be it's a LOT Hotter now because of that.

[wtmusic]

5. But still assuming there were good intentions

The occupation of Iraq is doomed to failure because it was ethically and morally wrong. The Iraqis know it and the rest of the world knows it.

Whether we have enough troops, enough fresh water in July, enough armor plating, enough popular support at home, enough fuel, enough supplies, etc. etc., are ultimately inconsequential. In the end, just like Viet Nam, we will lose. And it's up to only our government how many more people have to die in the process.

[DemonFighterLives]

6. Yeah, turn on the frickin lights

The place is a mess and the sooner we get out the better. Turn off the death.

[Seneca]

7. Proof journalism is dead

The fact that he advocated for the war, with callous disregard for the facts, compromised his credentials on both of those counts.

Or in other words, fuck him. Too late for recompense for the needless bloodshed.

[gratuitous]

9. "Good intentions gone bad"

I've heard the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

But as the now-revealed antecedents to the invasion have shown, the corrupt Bush administration didn't even have the bad excuse of good intentions for launching their invasion. They had a set of rationales that they knew would play with a majority of the American people, and tailored their message, the intelligence that they would share, and the solicitation of that intelligence to fit those rationales.

I'm sure that Nordland feels bad now. He might have felt a whole lot better if he and his media cohorts had been doing their jobs in 2002 and 2003, tracking down the information publicized by the Bushistas and exposing over and over again that what they were saying in public didn't match what they were doing in private.

But that's apparently too much to ask of a Fourth Estate so heavily beholden to the folks in power, who might not invite them to all the swellest parties if they were to report the truth.

[Kerrytravelers]

10. Wow. A "journalist" decides it's time to DO HIS JOB!

[Just Me]

11. I'll be really impressed when he confronts what this war was really about:

global profiteering by murderous corporacrats.