March 2003
Paul Craig Roberts
John Lukacs, in his monograph "June 1941: Hitler and Stalin," reports that "the best military experts throughout the world predicted the defeat of the Soviet Union within a few weeks, or within two months at the most" following Hitler's invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941.
While the superb German military machine made an excellent showing, by the beginning of 1943 its offensive capability was exhausted and the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad. Germany lost the war one and a half years before the United States could manage the invasion of Normandy. If Hitler had not depleted the German army in Russia, a U.S. invasion of Normandy could not have been contemplated.
Lukacs concerns himself with unintended consequences of June 22, 1941. It is not too early, or too late, to concern ourselves with the unintended consequences of March 20, 2003.
Four and a quarter years ago, the Pentagon and its neoconservative advisors and media propagandists promised Americans a "cakewalk" war of three to six weeks duration. Six weeks later, on May 2, 2003, in history's most ill-advised propaganda stunt, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, whose tower was adorned with a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished," and announced the end to major combat operations in Iraq.
In fact, the war had hardly begun. Four years later, with the failure in June 2007 of President Bush's desperate last measure — "the surge" — U.S. offensive capability is exhausted. The U.S. military can do no more and has less control of the situation than ever.
Perhaps the clearest indication that the war in Iraq is no longer under American control is Turkey's announcement of plans to invade northern Iraq, the home of the Iraqi Kurds. As June 2007 came to an end, Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced that if U.S. or Iraqi forces did not eliminate the Kurdish guerrillas that were attacking Turkey, the Turkish Army would move into northern Iraq to deal with the situation.
(Continued here.)
John Lukacs, in his monograph "June 1941: Hitler and Stalin," reports that "the best military experts throughout the world predicted the defeat of the Soviet Union within a few weeks, or within two months at the most" following Hitler's invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941.
While the superb German military machine made an excellent showing, by the beginning of 1943 its offensive capability was exhausted and the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad. Germany lost the war one and a half years before the United States could manage the invasion of Normandy. If Hitler had not depleted the German army in Russia, a U.S. invasion of Normandy could not have been contemplated.
Lukacs concerns himself with unintended consequences of June 22, 1941. It is not too early, or too late, to concern ourselves with the unintended consequences of March 20, 2003.
Four and a quarter years ago, the Pentagon and its neoconservative advisors and media propagandists promised Americans a "cakewalk" war of three to six weeks duration. Six weeks later, on May 2, 2003, in history's most ill-advised propaganda stunt, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, whose tower was adorned with a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished," and announced the end to major combat operations in Iraq.
In fact, the war had hardly begun. Four years later, with the failure in June 2007 of President Bush's desperate last measure — "the surge" — U.S. offensive capability is exhausted. The U.S. military can do no more and has less control of the situation than ever.
Perhaps the clearest indication that the war in Iraq is no longer under American control is Turkey's announcement of plans to invade northern Iraq, the home of the Iraqi Kurds. As June 2007 came to an end, Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced that if U.S. or Iraqi forces did not eliminate the Kurdish guerrillas that were attacking Turkey, the Turkish Army would move into northern Iraq to deal with the situation.
(Continued here.)
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