[GAsux]

I have two points I'd like to make. Thank you.

First, Chalabi was cut out of the process because he had no popular backing and has proven to be weaselish from the start. The agency folks all had doubts and suspicions about Chalabi from the start because they realized that he had virtually no popular support and was in place as a result of nothing more than the money we were throwing him. In any kind of post Iraq government he'd be powerless to exercise loyalty and power over the masses of Iraq.

Second, the U.S. is absolutely magnificent at fighting wars. There is no doubt about it. You can site cases of "friendly fire" and civilian casualties all you want but the bottom line is in terms of strategic capabilities no one does it better than we do. However, we suck donkey nuts when it comes to "police actions" and nation building.

We didn't need the U.N. to invade Iraq. Bush was absolutely right. However, we DID need the U.N. to rebuild Iraq and that's where we got it all wrong. The Pentagon is great at the X's and O's of war fighting, but completely incompetent in the ways of stabilizing a tattered nation suffering from a severe power vacuum.

If the U.S. had agreed to turn over the rebuilding and reconstruction to the U.N. immediately following the cessation of "combat" I believe Iraq would be light years ahead of where they are now. Each day longer the U.S. maintains a military presence on the ground adds to the fuel being spread by muslim leaders and clerics already oppossed to U.S. "occupation". We will never win the hearts and minds as long as our troops are walking the streets.

The only feasible exit at this point in my mind is at least a gradual transition to a U.N. led rebuilding process. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons at this point it appears as if the U.N. (see Anan's statements today) is unwilling to play. Perhaps it's the situation, perhaps it's the bridges we've burned. Regardless, Iraq still requires involvement in the economic, political, and domestic security arenas but as long as that involvement comes in the form of the U.S. military, progress will not be made.

But that's just me.