Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Operation Blame the Media is in effect with George W. Bush and his Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well as their apologists at Fox News and the right wing blogtopia, are blaming the media for the problems in Iraq.

With that in mind, it is good to remember retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Anthony Zinni's list of the 10 biggest mistakes made before and after the invasion of Iraq. From his May 12, 2004 speech at the Center for Defense Information:

And I think those of us that knew that region, former commanders in chief, I guess we can't use that term anymore - part of transformation is to change the lexicon -  but former combatant commanders of U.S. Central Command, beginning with Gen. Schwarzkopf, have said you don't understand what you're getting into. You are not going to go through Edelman's "cakewalk;" you are not going to go through Chalabi's dancing in the streets to receive you.  You are about to go into a problem that you don't know the dimensions and the depth of, and are going to cause you a great deal of pain, time, expenditure of resources and casualties down the road.

I can't understand why there was an underestimation when you look at a country that has never known democracy, that has been in the condition it's been in, that has the natural fault lines that it has, and the issues it has.  And to look at the  task of reconstructing this country, not only reconstructing it, but the idea of creating Jeffersonian democracy almost overnight, is almost ridiculous, in concept, in the kind of time and effort that was given as an estimate as to what it would take.

Zinni issued numerous warnings about the dangers before the invasion. From an Aug. 23, 2002 speech before the Florida Economic Club:

You could inherit the country of Iraq, if you're willing to do it -- if our economy is so great that you're willing to put billions of dollars into reforming Iraq. If you want to put soldiers that are already stretched so thin all around the world and add them into a security force there forever, like we see in places like the Sinai. If you want to fight with other countries in the region to try to keep Iraq together as Kurds and Shiites try and split off, you're going to have to make a good case for that. And that's what I think has to be done, that's my honest opinion.

Zinni, of course, continued to insist the case had not been made. One thing he got wrong in the speech is he said Bush was open to debate about the justification for invasion. Zinni was relieved by Bush of his position as Mideast envoy.

So read Zinni's list of the 10 biggest mistakes made by Bush and the GOP. As Bush begins his latest PR blitz to "reassure the public" he can't escape that he wants the public to have confidence in the man who made the blunders in the first place.