More Kudos to Frontline
Proving that PBS has not totally gone down the tubes, Frontline has an outstanding documentary out, "The Lost Year in Iraq," which details the serial stupidity of US officials from mid-2003 to mid-2004. Follow the link, btw, to view online. My only complaint/caveat, as always, is that I think it rather more likely the people making decisions (as opposed to high level types carrying them out) fully understood all along that Iraq would be a catastrophic mess and wanted it that way. I did, however, modify my views on this in one particular after watching TLY—it may well be that Rummy both wanted chaos and the option of walking away, but was somewhat surprised to discover the latter impossible.
Posted by George Kenney on October 18, 2006 8:35 AM 
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People who are interested in learning more about the Iraq tragedy are encouraged to read Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. His interview with Amy Goodman also can be listened to on Democracy Now.
The book does not say much about the behind-the-scenes planning of the invasion by the White House. But it is fascinating to learn how Cheney and his neocon gang lead by Bremer (a Kissinger prodigy) were intentionally planning to devastate Iraq and to create a crisis to justify long-term American occupation. Of course, despite all the efforts by young pro-life Christian Republican zealots in the Green zone, the country did not become a beacon of western-type democracy in the middle east, as promised by the Tyrant. You cannot eliminate hunger and eradicate poverty and disease by remodeling the Iraqi stock market after Wall Street or implementing five-digit US-style postal zip codes as your high priorities.
The list of blunders by Bremer and his degenerate cabal are too numerous to count, which makes me think they were intentional, because the cabal must have known it would all fail from the start. Bremer should have never underestimated the courage, pride, intelligence, and nationalism of the Iraqis.
Posted by: Mike Benny | October 22, 2006 2:48 PM