What did they know and when did they know it?
CNN is reporting that a 1999 Pentagon simulation projected that the United States would need at least 400,000 troops to secure Iraq after an invasion. Even then, the simulation suggested that Iraq could descend into chaos.
There wasn’t any mention of the results of this simulation in Bob Woodward’s State of Denial, nor did I find any reference to it in Ken Pollack’s The Threatening Storm (which recommended both invasion and stabilization forces of about 300,000.)
Margaret, was there any mention of this simulation in Fiasco?
I’d be curious as to why the results of this simulation weren’t more influential within the Pentagon planning process. I know, I know, the question almost answers itself, but if I was Tommy Franks and I had the results of this in my back pocket, I might have been inclined to argue for a much larger force than he apparently did.
So what’s the “Catholic angle” on this? Goes to the just war criterion about likelihood of success and also whether the moral actors were invincibly ignorant of the probably outcomes of their actions. Satisfied?
Where is the justification in Catholic just war thinking for a pre-emptive war? There was really no attack on the US, despite the Bush people’s insistence that Hassam did 9/11.
http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/justwar/#ratzinger
This war had no moral justification to begin with. What is amazing is how much it is has been bungled from a military point of view.
More amazing and shameful seeing so many so-called Christians calling for war.
John Paul II and Benedict were right on this one. So what do the magisterium lovers like Neuhaus and Novak do? Try like hell to show this is not an opinion of the magisterium.
Twisted indee.
Now Pearl, Adelman and Frum tell us how rudderless Bush and his cronies are. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612
We know this from our own observations but to have it confirmed by such prominent neocons is really the nail in the coffin for this incompetent group!
I must confess I did not speak out against our attacking Iraq. Yet I wanted us to take out Saddam. And WMDs, possible ties to terrorism, etc. meant nothing to me. I enjoyed seeing our armed forces “kick ass.”
And everything I’ve seen/heard since then has turned me “off” to Bush’s Iraq policy. We can’t just leave, or there’ll be a bloodbath. Or should we give a “date certain” at which time we leave altogether.
It’s a mess, and I’m not aware of any easy answers or of any true solution(s). One thing for certain, however: the average Iraqi deserves far better, and my heart goes out to him and her.