Thursday, April 3, 2008

Freedom to Ignore or Repeat History


The Washington Post carried a story on the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Despite good Iraqi fiction writing, the Ambassador says she clearly warned Saddam not to invade his neighbor. The Post went on to explore her current thinking about the region:

Asked what she thought of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, April Glaspie noted that the British Empire nearly 100 years ago had failed to control the country.

"You know, past is past; either we learn from it or we don't," Glaspie said. "The British, with extraordinary technology of their time, tried very hard, spoke more Arabic than the current coalition forces, were working within their old former mandate, they had all the maps, they knew every place in Iraq from north to south, and they could not do it. I think that the reasons that they could not do it are there for anybody to read."

Ah, Ms. Glaspie did the British have a $4.6 billion translation contract with a DynCorp joint venture to support Operation Iraqi Freedom? Note the deal was sealed near the 5th anniversary of the invasion. How's that for planning?

Does it also mean the current Bush team can't read the signs, especially if they were there for anybody to read? George W., put on those reading glasses...