Iraq I: Hearts and Minds

Although it may seem like a cliche, winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis is ultimately more important than winning on the field of battle.

That is why stories of American promises broken -- and there have been an awful lot -- are so damaging to the U.S.'s longer term interests in Iraq and play into the hands of the insurgents and other anti-American elements.

Take, for example, a reconstruction contract for the building health centers across Iraq, which was expected to be the backbone of a modern health-care system that would make quality care available to all Iraqis.

The Washington Post reports that the program is running out of money after two years and $200 million in expenditures and only about 20 clinics of a planned 140 are now expected to be completed.

Ahem.

'A SERIES OF DISASTROUS MISTAKES'

Add the voice of General Anthony Zinni, former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, to the chorus of authoritative people who say Defense Secretary Rumself and other key Bush administration officials are directly responsible for the post-invasion debacle.

Speaking on Meet the Press, Zinni said that:

I saw the - what this town is known for, spin, cherry-picking facts, using metaphors to evoke certain emotional responses or shading the context. We know the mushroom clouds and the other things that were all described that the media has covered well. I saw on the ground a sort of walking away from 10 years’ worth of planning. You know, ever since the end of the first Gulf War, there’s been planning by serious officers and planners and others, and policies put in place -- 10 years' worth of planning were thrown away. Troop levels dismissed out of hand. Gen. Shinseki basically insulted for speaking the truth and giving an honest opinion.

The lack of cohesive approach to how we deal with the aftermath, the political, economic, social reconstruction of a nation, which is no small task. A belief in these exiles that anyone in the region, anyone that had any knowledge, would tell you were not credible on the ground. And on and on and on, decisions to disband the army that were not in the initial plans. There’s a series of disastrous mistakes. We just heard the Secretary of State say these were tactical mistakes. These were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policies made back here. Don't blame the troops. They’ve been magnificent. If anything saves us, it will be them.

CAN THE RELIGIOUS CENTER HOLD?

Reuel Marc Gerecht, an American Enterprise Institute fellow, writes in the Wall Street Journal that Iraqi is not yet in civil war, but that would be a consequence of the failure of religious and not necessarily government elements to staunch the orgy of violence that has overtaken Baghdad and threatens to spread elsewhere.

Gerecht believes that the Iraqis are trying to do their part.