Iraq: Republican Looting Still Surges

In the July 17 issue of The New York Review, Michael Massing files a great report entitled "Embedded in Iraq" describing what he saw of today's Iraq as he moved with a convoy from the 2nd Batallion of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division. He describes what the military has accomplished since the addition of new troops there and the adoption of the new counter-insurgency strategy. As one officer he spoke with put it:

"If we weren't here, there are a lot of people who'd be dead the next day. But we're spinning our wheels."

Spinning their wheels? Not so. As the second half of Massing's article notes, the real narrative is that they have given this Republican Administration a second bite at the apple of monumental failure, while billions of dollars find their way into the pockets of contractors and cronies, continuing what Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has said "may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history."

Massing:

...in addition to launching the much-publicized military surge,  [the Bush Administration] had mounted a little-known political surge, as well...a huge state-building campaign, spearheaded by a sharp expansion in the U.S. advisory effort.
...
Specialists from Treasury and Justice, Commerce and Agriculture were assigned to government ministries to help draw up budgets and weed out sectarian elements. The Agency for International Development and the Army Corps of Engineers set up projects to boost nutrition and reinforce dams. Provisional Reconstruction Teams were stationed in Baghdad and elsewhere to help repair infrastructure, improve water and electrical systems, and stimulate the economy.
...
A year has passed since the campaign began. And from talks with several Green Zone visitors who are familiar with it, I learned that, by and large, it has been an utter failure.

This plan was little-known to me. I have to admit I haven't been thinking about it much. Its particulars were set out in the 2007 classified document called "Joint Campaign Plan." Here are a few quotes Massing collected from advisers on The Joint Campaign:

• A bunch of random people sent over with widely varying skills who can't speak the language, who've never worked in this type of environment, and whom the Iraqis didn't even ask for.


• When I got to Iraq and found it was still disorganized and completely out of sync with what the Iraqis were doing, I was shocked.


• A profound lack of understanding at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

So, yeah, it's 2008 and this is exactly the same as the CPA fiasco after the initial invasion. Our military shifted its strategy and came out with some different results. The "Joint Campaign" repeated every mistake and failed to bring about the political reconciliation that our military efforts were meant to encourage. And money was spent.

Meanwhile, as Massing reminds us, Baghdad residents get two hours of electricity a day, there are 2 million plus internally displaced Iraqis living in tents and shacks, and every time a U.S. official leaves the Green Zone they "require the deployment of 30 armed guards and two Black Hawk helicopters" all coordinated by Blackwater.

I hope you find a chance to read the article. Massing mentions the upcoming local elections in Iraq as a bright spot since it will bring to power some new provincial leaders, people Massing describes as more authentic than the current Maliki government. As we have seen recently, Maliki has been acting to preserve his legitimacy in advance of the elections. Perhaps Iraqi self-determination (coinciding with the ouster of many Republicans in Washington, DC) will open a new chapter for Iraq-- though Massing cautions: "for that to happen, violence must be held in check."

•  Nothing much changes there

  until we can change things here, I figure.

  by hhex65 on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 01:43:16 AM PDT

•  "A profound lack of understanding...

  ...at the highest levels of the U.S. government."  That pretty much says it all.  From the beginning through today, there was not only a lack of understanding but a willful blindness to any cultural knowledge whatsoever.  Whether by design or sheer incompetence, this whole fiasco is nothing but a cash cow for W's cronies.  What makes it all so horrible is that it wasn't necessary to be so ignorant and greedy to reap huge profits.

  The Bush administration was prepared to throw massive amounts of $$ at this debacle.  Good management and delivery of products and services as specified wouldn't really have cut into the bottom line that heavily and yet it wasn't enough for the no-bid guys.  They had to have more just in case this whole party was ended too soon.  I think the American people might not have become so sour on this whole occupation if they had actually seen signs of rebuilding and qualitative improvement in the lives of Iraqis.  It would be less difficult to justify or tolerate the casualties if we could see something good happening.

  Instead, the veritable parade of accusations of profiteering and general corruption, not to mention the electrocution of troops from faulty wiring, is just one more reason to withdraw even the most tepid support for this misbegotten farce of a war.  What could have developed into a long-term, cooperative relationship with the Iraqi government to continue the rebuilding has become a rush to "throw the bums out."  We have shown that we not only have no understanding of this culture, we don't even have a passing acquaintance with human decency.

  by luckylizard on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 04:05:49 AM PDT

•  Iraq was always about contracts

  A handful of Republican cronies have become millionaires thanks to Iraq contracts, and the oil companies are about to cash in too.  It's not about making Iraq better, or about doing the work they're paid to do, it's just about grabbing as much taxpayer cash as they can.  If you haven't read Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine yet, I urge you to do so. It helps explain how everything you described is exactly what the Republicans intended to happen. The last thing they want is a stable, secure Iraq.

  by davidkc on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 04:59:48 AM PDT