Pollack, a liberal fuzzy thinker from a Democratic administration, should never have been listened to by the Republican party. That after all his war drum beating he's belatedly come to the conclusion that there aren't enough troops is a cosmic joke. He was one of the lunatics who were saying that Iraq was stuffed to the gills with WMDs and that the Iraqi people would welcome us with open arms
The "lunatics" as you call them, included all the governments which had any sort of intelligence capability in the ME. And, if I remember correctly, you thought Hussein had em too. And you agreed with me beforehand that Hussein would chisle on the Inspections - which he did.
Actually, the Republican party should have listened to Pollack more closely.
You obviously, like them, never read Pollack's book on Iraq. He never expected the aftermath to be a slam dunk. I don't think you've even read carefully the references you posted here. You don't know what you're talking about.
Pollack never did see any necessity for an invasion this year.
He expected the Iraqi reaction to US invasion to be ambivalent. He was right.
A couple of quotes from his book:
Altogether, this force would probably number anywhere from 200,00 to 300,000 soldiers , sailors and airmen. It would prbably be closer to 300,000 (and might even exceed that number). ...For example, we would require tens of theousands of civil affairs personnel to immediately begin restoring basic services to the Iraqi people as our combat forces begin liberating Iraqi territory." [p338]
This suggests, that, initially, a force of about 250,000 to 300,000 troops would be necessary to provide security for Iraq. [Following Bosnia model]. [p398]
Unfortunately, the question of how the Iraqi people are likely to react is another great unknown. [p381]
Far from being fuzzy, or "belated," Pollack stated before the war twice as many troops were required.
You are allowing your isolationism to colour your judgement to such a degree you are making Pollack say things he didn't say.
Naughty, naughty, Carl. |
