The Newshour on PBS ended tonight the way it does most nights: with the faces of Americans who have recently been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anchor Jim Lehrer reads the same introduction, telling us that soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines are shown as their names and photos become available. Then the cavalcade of photos begins in silence. I make it my business to watch.For me, this evening's "honor roll," as Lehrer calls it, was particularly solemn for two reasons. One, there were images of 24 dead servicemen, when most nights there are less than half that. Second, I saw a film today at the Kendall Square Theater called No End in Sight, which documents the arrogance and incompetence of George W. Bush and his top advisors in the early stages of the occupation of Iraq. Quite a few people who were part of the Administration or in the military at the time went on camera to tell us what happened and why.
If you've been paying attention all along, then many of the mistakes won't surprise you -- having the Department of Defense instead of State in control of the occupation; not having nearly enough troops to occupy a country of 26 million people; having few Middle East experts and almost no speakers of Arabic as part of the Coalition Provisional Authority; allowing lawlessness right after the fall of Baghdad; securing the oil ministry but none of the others; not securing dozens of weapons caches; deBaathification; disbanding the army; and the list goes on.
What the film demonstrates is that there were people in our government who knew what to do and there was a voluminous plan (in the State Department) laying out how to do it, but Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz and CPA head Paul Bremer didn't want to hear it. They already knew the answers -- or so they believed. And now, as a result, more than 3,000 Americans are dead. I have been opposed to the invasion of Iraq from the beginning, but even for those who have supported the policy all along it is sickening to see the consequences of such hubris and malfeasance.
2 comments:
I watch "NewsHour," and I've never seen it hit 24. That's staggering. Thanks for the review of "No End in Sight," too. I'd been thinking of seeing it.
it really makes you think about what is truly important in our lives...it's not about who has more election signs up; or who has a more popular backing...it's about thinking outside the box and realizing that we are all very lucky to even be given the chance to vote, to speak our mind, to walk down our street, not in fear of a raod side bomb.
thank you, mr. correale (sorry if spelt wrong), for taking the time to show us what is important in our life...
everyone say a prayer tonight for all our men and women who have paid the ultimate price, and who are still over there, fighting for US!
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