New documentary traces mismanagement, poor decisions in post-invasion Iraq
Nick JulianoPublished: Friday July 13, 2007
Dozens of people are dying daily. Roadside bombs kill American soldiers and Marines. Al Qaeda fighters have infiltrated parts of the country. The Iraqi government is not meeting benchmarks associated with President Bush's recent "surge" in troops.
The war in Iraq clearly is not going well, and calls for US troops to come home are growing ever louder.
A new documentary, to be released later this month, asks a simple question: How did we get to this point?
The film, No End in Sight, an advance copy of which provided to RAW STORY, focuses mostly on the mismanagement by ill-informed US officials overseeing the post-combat occupation, rather than delving too deeply into the misinformation fed to the American people in the run-up to war.
Through interviews with former administration officials, military members, journalists and scholars, No End in Sight returns to the months following the US invasion. It shows how decisions made by Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and their acolytes have created the disastrous situation that exists on the ground now.
A clip of the film, which is reproduced below exclusively on RAW STORY, shows just how far off the administration was in its initial estimates on how the war and its aftermath would be handled. Army Col. Paul Hughes recalled former Defense Department spokesman Lawrence DiRita promising to have all but 25,000-30,000 troops out of Iraq by the end of August 2003.
"I heard him say that, in a room full of people," said Hughes, who was director of strategic policy for the US occupation in 2003. "And I turned to my colleagues and I said, 'This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. It's physically impossible.'"
LinkHere
Dozens of people are dying daily. Roadside bombs kill American soldiers and Marines. Al Qaeda fighters have infiltrated parts of the country. The Iraqi government is not meeting benchmarks associated with President Bush's recent "surge" in troops.
The war in Iraq clearly is not going well, and calls for US troops to come home are growing ever louder.
A new documentary, to be released later this month, asks a simple question: How did we get to this point?
The film, No End in Sight, an advance copy of which provided to RAW STORY, focuses mostly on the mismanagement by ill-informed US officials overseeing the post-combat occupation, rather than delving too deeply into the misinformation fed to the American people in the run-up to war.
Through interviews with former administration officials, military members, journalists and scholars, No End in Sight returns to the months following the US invasion. It shows how decisions made by Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and their acolytes have created the disastrous situation that exists on the ground now.
A clip of the film, which is reproduced below exclusively on RAW STORY, shows just how far off the administration was in its initial estimates on how the war and its aftermath would be handled. Army Col. Paul Hughes recalled former Defense Department spokesman Lawrence DiRita promising to have all but 25,000-30,000 troops out of Iraq by the end of August 2003.
"I heard him say that, in a room full of people," said Hughes, who was director of strategic policy for the US occupation in 2003. "And I turned to my colleagues and I said, 'This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. It's physically impossible.'"
LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 5:56 PM
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