File Under "DUH."

Panel: Bush Was Unready for Postwar Iraq

Yeah, no shit. Hmmm... what else is in the news. Oh, wait, there's more to the article?

WASHINGTON - An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.

How do I get on one of these independent panels? I'm sure they're getting paid well; how do I get in on that money? If your only qualification needs to be that you've got wikked skillz at stating the fucking obvious, I'm golden, baby.

Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft. Berger was national security adviser to Democratic President Clinton. Scowcroft held the same post under Republican Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush but has been critical of the current president's Iraq and Mideast policies.

"A dramatic military victory has been overshadowed by chaos and bloodshed in the streets of Baghdad, difficulty in establishing security or providing essential services, and a deadly insurgency," the report said.

Yes, thank you, boys. Good work. Of course, we were all screaming that there was no postwar planning before anyone's boots hit the sand in Iraq, but we'll ignore that for now.

In a speech last month to soldiers at Fort Bragg, N.C., President Bush pointed to the Iraqi elections and efforts to improve roads, schools and basic services. "Rebuilding a country after three decades of tyranny is hard, and rebuilding while at war is even harder. Our progress has been uneven, but progress is being made."

Yeah, yeah. "It's hard work." When, oh when will we have a President that doesn't sound like a fifth grader trying to make excuses for a late book report?

In Iraq, the task force said, postwar requirements did not get enough attention, and there were misjudgments, as well. This, the report said, "left the United States ill-equipped to address public security, governance and economic demands" after the war.

And this, in turn, undermined U.S. foreign policy and gave an early push to the insurgency in Iraq, the task force said.

In Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, the report said, the postwar period has been marked by inefficient operations and billions of dollars of wasted resources.

Look, I'm trying not to be too nasty here, but this is what we have been trumpeting since day one. It's nice that sources other than "the liberal media" are finally starting to admit these things, but it's a little too late, folks. Progressives knew this war and all the "evidence" that "justified" it were complete horseshit, and you all chose to label us tinfoil mad hatters. Now Iraq is burning, our world image is in the toilet, and you're just now waking up? Thanks heaps.

I love that this is the photo accompanying the story:


Fiddling while Rome burns.

Where are those darn WMDs, anyway? Nope, not here! Nope, not here either!

Har, har, har.

(It's raining cross-posts! Hallelujah!)