James Baker on Iraq:

Posted on October 20, 2006

Former Secretary of State James Baker weighs in on the situation in Iraq declaring it to be a "helluva mess." And this is from the experienced diplomat who has been selected to head up the bipartisan committee to advise President Bush on how to extricate himself from said mess.

The scope of this disaster was only widened today with the news that Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr's forces took control of a large secion of the Iraqi city of Amara today. His forces destroyed police stations and patrolled entire neighborhoods. General David Grange told CNN that it is crucial that we not allow this militia to win this battle: U.S. forces simply cannot allow the extremists to do this. We look weak, the Iraqi police force looks weak (which it is) and it will only increase violence in the area.

It is absolutely appalling how mismanaged this war has been. In Bob Woodward's second book Woodward quoted General Colin Powell (who was later fired by Bush) telling the president that we must go into Iraq with overwhelming force or the war effort could turn into a disaster. Rumsfeld argued successfully instead for a "lean and mean" army, saying that victory would come quickly. Powell's predictions have all come true, including his Crate and Barrel analogy: we broke Iraq, now it's ours. Only Rumsfeld and Bush don't seem to know what to do with it.

Ignoring the advice of military experts consistently has led us to this point in time. It's now time for a change in Washington. And if recent poll numbers are any indication, we may be about to get it -- in Congress, anyway. Unfortunately, Rumsfeld will still be in charge no matter who wins the mid-terms.