Yes, we all remember the Mission Accomplished speech on the carrier, but that came in early May, 2003. It was on April 14, 2003, three weeks earlier, that U.S. commanders declared that the fighting was over. Polls showed that most Americans agreed we had won easily and the war was over. But check out this prescient letter to the editor buried in the
NYT, in response to Rumsfeld's claim that looting and chaos showed that freedom was "untidy" but the future in Iraq was bright:
I believe that looting, lawlessness and continuous
danger are the result of winning an ill-conceived war. Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon have fielded the finest troops and
the best equipment in the history of the world.
As wars go, this one was won with lightning speed
and relatively few civilian and military casualties. Every maneuver was
carefully orchestrated. But the planning for postwar Iraq was practically
left to chance. The Iraqis, whom we liberated, have to deal with looting
and lawlessness. The troops who are stationed in Iraq are in constant
danger. We have still not established law and order in Afghanistan,
which we ''liberated'' in 2001.
Perhaps the way to defend the United States is not
to attack all the countries that harbor terrorists, but rather to be
part of a worldwide coalition to catch and bring terrorists to justice.
SUSAN STERN
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Greg Mitchell's new book Iraq and media malpractice is "So Wrong for So Long."
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