Newshoggers Comments
Of course it's a clerical error - by Iraq War standards. Heck, it isn't even in the 100's of millions, much less the usual billions. Who can forget the 363 tons of banknotes (281 million bills!) airlifted into Baghdad by the CPA in 2003-2004? Your estimate for this boondoggle is only about 1% of that little escapade, and thus no more significant than a rounding error in Iraq War Accounting.
Hi Don,
It's chump-change on an Iraqi scale, sure. but it's a lot more than a general's pay-scale.
Regards, C
Hi Cernig,
Here's a missive from Colonel Pat Lang that might interest you:
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/t...i-and-his-
.html
Lang was a DIA mideast analyst on the NIC/NSC level and an Arabist who knows what he's talking about. He also seems to loathe the Bush administration far more than you do.
Hi Zen,
Thanks for that. I've a lot of time for Pat Lang even when I don't agree 100% with him. He and I's main difference in opinion is on timing. He says the time to begin an orderly withdrawal is not yet, I say it was a year ago.
On this, I take the advice of another old hand, Wiliam Lind. He wrote last year that the US forces were blowing up bridges in Iraq to deny them to insurgents and was of the opinion that if that was happening four years in to the occupation then the situation was past saving. I've read nothing to make me (or Lind) change that opinion since.
Regards, C
Hi C.
Lind is quite a character. I was able to see him perform in person recently and sometimes I think he has brilliant insights. Other times, not so much.
Lind's getting at a grand strategy for 4GW of any state, anywhere, is better for us these days than none at all. Right or wrong, that tends to color all of his advice.
Hi zen,
I'd put it plainer - Lind's crazier than a bagful of badgers when it comes to politics. But he's still one of the smartest 4GW thinkers around.
Hells, I don't happen to think OBL is all that sane, but I think he's been a very successful 4GW strategist. He's gotten the Bush administration doing most of his work for him.
Regards, C
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