This won't be a surprise to anyone that has been paying attention
but.........
Newly released documents show once again that Bush dropped the terrorism
ball (not that he ever really picked it up in the first place, but I
digress) a month after 9/11 in favor of pushing for an invasion of Iraq.
The documents also include warnings from the state department about the lack
of planning for post-war Iraq.
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB163/index.htm
State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack of plans
for post-war Iraq security
Planning for post-Saddam regime change began
as early as October 2001
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 163
Posted - August 17, 2005
For more information: Malcolm Byrne - 202/994-7000
The Saddam Hussein Sourcebooks
More documents on the U.S.-Iraq relationship
Washington, D.C., August 17, 2005: Newly declassified State Department
documents show that government experts warned the U.S. Central Command
(CENTCOM) in early 2003 about "serious planning gaps for post-conflict
public security and humanitarian assistance," well before Operation Iraqi
Freedom began.
In a February 7, 2003, memo to Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky,
three senior Department officials noted CENTCOM's "focus on its primary
military objectives and its reluctance to take on 'policing' roles," but
warned that "a failure to address short-term public security and
humanitarian assistance concerns could result in serious human rights abuses
which would undermine an otherwise successful military campaign, and our
reputation internationally." The memo adds "We have raised these issues with
top CENTCOM officials."
By contrast, a December 2003 report to Congress, also released by the State
Department, offers a relatively rosy picture of the security situation,
saying U.S. forces are "increasingly successful in preventing planned
hostile attacks; and in capturing former regime loyalists, would-be
terrorists and planners; and seizing weapons caches." The document
acknowledges that "Challenges remain."
Since then, 1,393 U.S. military fatalities have been recorded in Iraq,
including two on the day the report went to Congress.
The new documents, released this month to the National Security Archive
under the Freedom of Information Act, also provide more evidence on when the
Bush administration began planning for regime change in Iraq -- as early as
October 2001.
The declassified records relate mainly to the so-called "Future of Iraq
Project," an effort, initially run by the State Department then by the
Pentagon, to plan for the transition to a new regime after the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein in 2003. They provide detail on each of the working groups
and give the starting date for planning as October 2001.
Entire sections of a Powerpoint presentation the State Department prepared
on November 1, 2002 -- including those covering "What We Have Learned So
Far" and "Implications for the Real Future of Iraq" -- have been censored as
still-classified information.
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Documents
Note: The following documents are in PDF format.
You will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
Document 1: State Department cable, Future of Iraq Expert Working Groups,
July 8, 2002
State Department officials held planning meetings with "free
Iraqis"-described as "Iraqis who live outside Iraq or in northern Iraq"-as
early as April 2002, according to this document. Directed to embassy posts
in several allied countries, the State Department cable announces the
establishment of 15 "Future of Iraq Project" working groups to prepare for
the transition to a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, adding that priority subjects
had been identified at a "planning meeting with Iraqis on April 9-10."
Document 2: State Department briefing, Future of Iraq Project, November 1,
2002
State Department planning for the transition in Iraq began in October 2001,
according to a "Project History" included in this set of briefing slides (p.
6).
Document 3: State Department Information Memorandum for Paula J. Dobriansky,
Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Iraq Contingency
Planning, February 7, 2003
One month before the beginning of U.S. military operations in Iraq, three
State Department bureau chiefs warn of "serious planning gaps for
post-conflict public security and humanitarian assistance" in a memorandum
prepared for Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky (Democracy and Global
Affairs). Recognizing that the military is reluctant "to take on 'policing'
roles," the bureau heads predict that "a failure to address short-term
public security and humanitarian assistance concerns could result in serious
human rights abuses which would undermine an otherwise successful military
campaign, and our reputation internationally."
Document 4: State Department Action Memorandum for Secretary of State Colin
Powell, Response to Secretary Rumsfeld, April 10, 2003
William Burns, the head of the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs
bureau, recommends that Secretary Powell approve a (still classified)
response to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's "suggested messages and
demarches to capitals related to Iraq." Burns notes that, "These are all
actions that we already have taken or have planned." Powell's approval
(stamped "CLP") is indicated in this copy of the memo.
Document 5: State Department, Report to Congress Submitted consistent with
PL 107-243: "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution
of 2002", December 15, 2003
Nine months into the war, this State Department report to Congress says that
U.S.-led military forces "continue to make progress in stabilizing Iraq's
overall security situation" and have been "increasingly successful in
preventing planned hostile attacks; and in capturing former regime
loyalists, would-be terrorists and planners; and seizing weapons caches."
Recent attacks against coalition forces "have been more sophisticated,"
however, "indicating that hostile foreign infiltrators are cooperating with
former regime loyalists." Curiously, the report finds that successful
insurgent attacks "reveal more information about planners, methods and
planning sites of hostile elements, thus assisting in the prevention of
attacks." On the day this report was submitted to Congress, two American
soldiers died in Iraq, and an additional 1,391 have died since.
*****
--
Aloha,
G-Ride
"Like a quarrelling group of monkeys on a leaky boat, armed with sticks of
dynamite, we are now embarked on an uncertain journey."
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