Iraq: What Went Wrong

So many things seem to have gone wrong with the Iraq war effort that historians will need years to put it all down on paper. It began with too few troops. The Bush administration calculated – incorrectly – that America would be welcomed as liberators from Saddam Hussein. I’m sure many people did see it that way, but many others saw it as an opportunity to bloody our nose and make us appear weak and indecisive. Please, in future conflicts, let’s put in an overwhelming force, get the job done and get out.

After an initial excellent effort at communication under Pentagon spokeswoman Torrie Clarke, there is no good news coming out of Iraq to American TV screens. Progress is being made in the troop surge, but to observe the American media you’d never know it. To them it’s all gloom and doom all the time. I have long argued for the administration to bring some Iraqis to America to thank Americans for their support and to tell their stories. Our enemies know propaganda is a large part of this war. They practice it. We mostly do not.

That advice has been largely ignored, which is a major reason why approval for the war and the President has declined.

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Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

 

 

Originally published July 11, 2007.