corrente

I said I wouldn't use the word "clusterfuck," but there doesn't seem to be another word that's quite as appropriate.

Let's watch the self-sucking ice cream cone at the CPA in action. Some of it will seem very familiar! Here are some of the juicy details from WaPo:

"There was a conclusion early on that this guy [Sadr] was trouble and needed to be contained," said a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition he not be identified by name. "But there was not a clear plan on how to go about it."
(via WaPo)

"No clear plan." Sound familiar? Of course, the RNC-infested CPA has plenty of plans for shovelling money at well-connected Republican firms, back. But for managing an occupation? Zip, zilch, nada!

But the overall commander for the Middle East at the U.S. Central Command, Gen. John P. Abizaid, was hesitant to move on Sadr out of concern that arresting or killing him would simply elevate his stature, the officer said. Moderate Shiite clerics also advised the occupation authority against an arrest.

The people who will have to risk their lives, and the experts in the field, raise caution flags. Sound familiar?

With the planned handover of sovereignty less than 100 days away, political officers within the occupation authority called for more aggressive efforts to disband Sadr's militia

"Political officers." Translation: Republican operatives with their eyes on the November election. Sound familiar?

When Bremer ordered the shutdown of al-Hawza, there was no intention to use force to apprehend Sadr or leaders of his militia, according to occupation authority officials familiar with the decision.

One U.S. official said there was not even a fully developed backup plan for military action in case Sadr opted to react violently. "In hindsight, it was a huge mistake. The best-case scenario was that he would ignore it, like the earlier threat, or that he would capitulate. The worst case was that he would lash back. But we weren't ready for that."

There's no plan, but owing to political pressure, they go ahead anyway, hoping for the best. In fact, the worst happens. Sound familiar?

At the time, occupation authority officials figured that Sadr had between 3,000 and 6,000 militiamen, only 2,000 of whom were armed fighters -- a figure that turned out to be a vast underestimate. "We were relying on the most optimistic predictions possible", the official said.

The intelligence was bad, and the numbers were wildly optimistic. Sound familiar?

And while top officials may not have been familiar with military details, one senior administration official said that Washington had repeatedly advised Bremer and U.S. commanders in Iraq to ensure they were prepared for trouble if they went after Sadr.

The WhiteWash House and the DOD play cover-your-ass when things go bad. Sound familiar? (When in fact, given the fact that the CPA in Baghdad's "Republican Palace" is an arm of the RNC, there is certainly a back channel from Bush and Rove right to Bremer, and it's doubtful he makes any moves without getting the OK straight from the top. "Plausible deniability, don't you know.")

[The same day that Bremer closed Sadr's newspaper] in an unrelated incident, four American civilians working for a private security firm were ambushed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as they drove through Fallujah.

"Unrelated incident," eh? Maybe. It would still be nice to have some real detail on what (those unfortunate) men were doing in Fallujah. That delivering food story doesn't ring true to me.

As soon as word of the incident reached Baghdad, "it was clear we would have to deliver a serious response," a senior U.S. official said. "We were going to have to do something significant to clean up the town."

So the CPA used the incident to do what it had wanted to do all along. Sound familiar?

Instead of de-escalating, the Americans kept increasing the pressure on Sadr. On Saturday, April 3, U.S. forces arrested Yaqoubi, Sadr's top deputy, on charges of involvement in the killing of Khoei, the Shiite cleric.

"We didn't choose the time for the uprising. The occupation forces did. It's clear that by arresting Sheik Yaqoubi and closing the Hawza newspaper, they wanted to provoke the Shiites," Tarfi said. "We didn't want to choose this time for the uprising."

Looks to me like Bush and the CPA operatives decided if it was going to happen, it had better happen now—before the November election. It's just that they weren't competent to execute what they had decided on. Sound familiar?

And so a cycle of violence begins. Many Americans will die. Many more Iraqis will die. But for the Republican operatives and companies that are part of the Iraqi self-sucking ice cream cone, the violence will be very, very profitable. In fact, for them, worse is better. Up to the point where they clear out with the cash and leave the mess for the Democrats to clean up. Sound familiar?

UPDATE And in related news, Bush gives prayer a bad name.

"I pray every day there are less casualties. but I know what we are doing in Iraq is right, right for long-term peace, right for the security of our country," Bush said.

"It's hard work. I thank the Good Lord for protecting those of our troops overseas and our coalition troops and innocent Iraqis suffering at the hands of these senseless killings," he added.
(via Reuters)

Oh please.