The Biggest U.S. Error in Ousting Saddam - New York Times

The Biggest U.S. Error in Ousting Saddam - New York Times: "When a longtime neoconservative advocate of regime change in Iraq gives a one-sentence summary of the biggest American error in ousting Saddam Hussein, it is worth paying attention.

That is what Richard Perle, a former chairman of President George W. Bush's Defense Policy Board, did recently. He told CNN: 'The biggest mistake was not turning political authority over to the Iraqis immediately when Baghdad fell.'"

I don''t usually agree with Roger Cohen, but this one is a relatively "fair and balanced" piece, worth reading, including his conclusion that we can't just bug out of Iraq (Cohen: "Because I believe the net impact of American power, mistakes notwithstanding, over the past century has been a freer, more open, more accountable and more rewarding world, I am inclined to heed Petraeus rather than the Democrats in the House.)

By the way does it drive you crazy that way it drives me crazy, when former abject failures in government service, like Bremner and George Tenet, come out with "tell all" books, where they criticize the administration in an attempt to white wash their own tragic mistakes? How much did Tenet, as leader of the CIA CIA get tragically wrong during the Clinton and Bush years (leading right up to the 9/11 catastrophe), just to come out now and criticize the Bush administration for a lack of a debate over Iraq, after Tenet himself said that it was a "slam dunk" that they had weapons of mass destruction? Without taking away from the Bush administration's many failings, what is the definition of chutzpah anyway? And Bremner criticizing the administration? Come on -- when do people like this get called for their own official behavior by the liberal media! Answer: "Never", since they use their tell-alls to criticize Bush.