April 3, 2008

Embarrassed U.S. disowns their Basra fiasco

This is a beaut. Deciderer CommanderGuy and his misadministration, to spare themselves and their pet Gen. Petraeus any further embarrassment, are denying any knowledge of how their latest major fuckup in Iraq could have happened, and are pointing the finger at erstwhile asshole buddy al-Maliki:

As it became clear last week that the "Operation Knights Assault" in Basra was in serious trouble, the Bush administration began to claim in off-the-record statements to journalists that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had launched the operation without consulting Washington.

The effort to disclaim U.S. responsibility for the operation is an indication that it was viewed as a major embarrassment just as top commander Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are about to testify before Congress.

Behind this furious backpedaling is a major Bush administration miscalculation about Moqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army, which the administration believed was no longer capable of a coordinated military operation. It is now apparent that Sadr and the Mahdi Army were holding back because they were still in the process of retraining and reorganisation, not because Sadr had given up the military option or had lost control of the Mahdi Army. {... snip ...}

[S]uggestions that it was al-Maliki who miscalculated in Basra are clearly false. No significant Iraqi military action can be planned without a range of military support functions being undertaken by the U.S. command. On Mar. 25, just as the operation was getting under way in Basra, U.S. military spokesman Col. Bill Buckner said "coalition forces" were providing intelligence, surveillance and support aircraft for the operation.

Furthermore, the embedded role of the U.S. Military Transition Teams makes it impossible that any Iraqi military operation could be planned without their full involvement.

-- Honor. Integrity. Accountability. Read the rest here.

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