Give Rebuilding Lower Priority in Future Wars

It beggars belief.

The US state Department has admitted that Rumsfeld's tactics in Iraq have been wrong from Day One and that, in any future conflict, they must never be repeated.

The State Department has produced a draft planning document saying that after any future conflicts, the United States should not immediately begin a major rebuilding program.

Instead, it says, the first priorities should be to establish a secure, stable environment and begin political reconciliation. Otherwise, officials said, Washington and any local government that is formed are likely to suffer major political repercussions by making promises that cannot be kept.

At last, some sense is being spoken. One of the main problems of Iraq is that the US forces have not engaged enough troops to establish order, a prerequisite to any success in the country.

All of us crave order. Rumsfeld's claims that freedom is messy are simply wrong. Freedom is actually the opposite. Freedom means living within a society where there is a rule of law and citizens are able to go about their business unhindered by government or violence.

The draft plan reads like a refutation of almost everything the United States has done in Iraq. It also reads like another chapter in the prolonged and bitter debate between the State Department and Pentagon that began during the months before the invasion of Iraq more than three years ago.

So, first Rice admits "thousands of mistakes" and now the State Department lay out why Rummy got it so wrong.

And yet, the man remains at his post. What do you need to do to get fired by George Bush?

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Tags: Iraq war, reconstruction, state department, plans, rebuilding, Rumsfeld, tactics in Iraq,