Did It Work?

July 1, 2004

It is common to hear the complaint that the administration had an excellent plan for winning the war but either no plan for the post war or a poorly thought out plan. Pundits point to the looting which either did or did not, according to who is talking, empty the National Museum and all of Iraq's wealth. They always seem to mention the disbanding of the Iraqi army and police force. At the time it seemed to be a good idea. Now, we have had months of conflict and hundreds of American soldiers killed and wounded. Oh, woe is us!

It seems to me that the problem is less that there was no plan than that we are not experienced occupiers of other countries. We have not done this in the last 50-60 years. No one has ever done this in modern history under the conditions that we have encountered. The entire world is at war (WWIV). This war is based on religion. Fundamental Islamic radicals are fighting wars or skirmishes all over the planet. Of the many major and minor wars in progress at this time, very few of them do NOT include Islamic Jihadists in some manner.

Did anyone expect to have the problems we encountered? No. Did anyone expect that the people of Iraq, suddenly freed from years of oppression would suddenly decide that it was open season on the entire country's resources? No. If you did, it surely was not reported in the news. No one saw the consequences of chopping the head off the government as quickly and "painlessly" as we did. No one even expected to take Baghdad with as little damage as we did. It was a totally unexpected and unprecedented. No one has ever seen war conducted in a manner that took civilian casualties into account to the extent that this war did.

It seems to me that we have been learning a lesson. If we have to conduct another battle in this war on terror, we will have a somewhat better idea of the dangers that lurk behind rapid victory on the battlefield.