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**Vcwdldva** · 04-26-2007, 08:33 PM

Originally posted by Ned
MTG, I approve of your posts in this thread.

Now do me one favor. Admit that I was right that we should not have dismissed the Iraqi army. You and I had a disagreement on this point at the time. IIRC, (it was four years ago

) I advocated dismissing the higher echelons - anyone above company level, as the higher levels were too Baathist and too cozy with the system we were trying to replace. We couldn't have managed the Iraqi army at the time, but we should have paid them to sit around and eventually to train when we had those capabilities in place.

I think the biggest occupation mistakes we made, in order of significance, were:

Failure to far more rapidly secure and neutralize ordance sites - we were fetished with hunting non-existent MWD evidence and avoiding a Kamisiyah type controversy. Instead, we had dozens of sites with essentially open season for anyone who wanted to borrow a little ordnance. That source of supply has now been supplanted, but early on, it was a primary source of supply for the original insurgents.

Failure to get people employed, even if it was *gasp* commie-FDR-New Deal-welfare state style "make work" Pay 'em and let 'em think they're rebuilding the country. High unemployment, lots of weapons, lots of pissed off military age men and foreign occupation don't mix real well. (This would include the Iraqi army issue you cited)

Insufficient consultation and engagement of local and tribal leaders, rather than an emphasis on top down decision-making and control. Let 'em be corrupt, let 'em have competing interests, but grease their palms and provide funding and materiel support for local Iraqi-run reconstruction projects, creating local government and security, etc.

Over-centralization, pork-barreling and slow implementation of infrastructure and standard of living projects. We were fetished on oil, and big projects on the scale that the Bechtels and Halliburtons of the world find appealing, when the average Iraqi would have benefited more from things like local water supply and treatment, wastewater treatment, repair and upgrade of hospitals and medical facilities, supply of basic goods and services, etc.

04-26-2007, 08:33 PM	#35
Vcwdldva Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 430 Senior Member	Originally posted by Ned MTG, I approve of your posts in this thread. Now do me one favor. Admit that I was right that we should not have dismissed the Iraqi army. You and I had a disagreement on this point at the time. IIRC, (it was four years ago ) I advocated dismissing the higher echelons - anyone above company level, as the higher levels were too Baathist and too cozy with the system we were trying to replace. We couldn't have managed the Iraqi army at the time, but we should have paid them to sit around and eventually to train when we had those capabilities in place. I think the biggest occupation mistakes we made, in order of significance, were: Failure to far more rapidly secure and neutralize ordance sites - we were fetished with hunting non-existent MWD evidence and avoiding a Kamisiyah type controversy. Instead, we had dozens of sites with essentially open season for anyone who wanted to borrow a little ordnance. That source of supply has now been supplanted, but early on, it was a primary source of supply for the original insurgents. Failure to get people employed, even if it was gasp commie-FDR-New Deal-welfare state style "make work" Pay 'em and let 'em think they're rebuilding the country. High unemployment, lots of weapons, lots of pissed off military age men and foreign occupation don't mix real well. (This would include the Iraqi army issue you cited) Insufficient consultation and engagement of local and tribal leaders, rather than an emphasis on top down decision-making and control. Let 'em be corrupt, let 'em have competing interests, but grease their palms and provide funding and materiel support for local Iraqi-run reconstruction projects, creating local government and security, etc. Over-centralization, pork-barreling and slow implementation of infrastructure and standard of living projects. We were fetished on oil, and big projects on the scale that the Bechtels and Halliburtons of the world find appealing, when the average Iraqi would have benefited more from things like local water supply and treatment, wastewater treatment, repair and upgrade of hospitals and medical facilities, supply of basic goods and services, etc.
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