[Peace-discuss] "We'll get better as we do it more often"

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Here's an example of why AWARE needs to think about what "anti-war" means
now -- in regard to what policies we support, how we understand the
general situation, and what activities we should undertake -- just as we
need to think about what "anti-racism" means, in the same regards.
	This piece was circulated by FAIR, from the July 18 L.A. Times;
the full story to which it is the conclusion is at
<www.latimes.com/la-na-postwar18jul18,1,7312078.story>. --CGE]

Looking to the Future

As Bremer now struggles to normalize Iraq amid rising violence and 
the destabilizing likelihood that Saddam Hussein is still alive, 
Rumsfeld and other administration officials have taken to pointing 
out the chaos that has followed similar events in other countries, 
including the American Revolution.

Critics say that is all the more reason to be ready for the worst.

"It's not true there wasn't adequate planning. There was a volume of 
planning. More than the Clinton administration did for any of its 
interventions," said Rand's Dobbins.

"They planned on an unrealistic set of assumptions," he said. 
"Clearly, in retrospect, they should have anticipated that when the 
old regime collapsed, there would be a period of disorder, a vacuum 
of power.... They should have anticipated extremist elements would 
seek to fill this vacuum of power. All of these in one form or 
another have been replicated in previous such experiences, and it was 
reasonable to plan for them."

Looking back from the third floor of the Pentagon, Feith dismissed 
such criticism as "simplistic." Despite initial problems, he said, 
progress is being made, with order returning to most of the country 
and a new Iraqi governing council in place.

Still, he and other Pentagon officials said, they are studying the 
lessons of Iraq closely - to ensure that the next U.S. takeover of a 
foreign country goes more smoothly.

"We're going to get better over time," promised Lawrence Di Rita, a 
special assistant to Rumsfeld. "We've always thought of 
post-hostilities as a phase" distinct from combat, he said. "The 
future of war is that these things are going to be much more of a 
continuum....

"This is the future for the world we're in at the moment," he said. 
"We'll get better as we do it more often."

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