The blunders and mistakes are many but by far the most irresponsible actions were:

1- The dissolution of the Iraqi army and police
2- The dismantling of the government apparatus, the administration, the civil service and the functioning bureaucracy
3- Failure to secure the borders which facilitated the entry of jihadis/terrorists
4- The military tactics used such as uprooting of trees, demolition of buildings, and the setting up of check points, alienated the Iraqis and infuriated the Arab people outside Iraq who saw a parallel with the Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Ther Iraqi civilians and the American military personnel are nosw paying the heavy price for the fatal errors.

nehad ismail
commentator on Middle East Affairs, based in London

“I wonder what Condi’s special talent is”

How about : a Chevron Corp. director since 1991

http://www.chevron.com/news/archive/chevron_press/2001/2001-01-16.asp

Condi Rice puzzles me.  She is purportedly a bona fide genius, having gone to college at a precocious age and having remarkable talents.  Is she now demonstrating her cunning and genius at getting ahead and ensuring that she comes out on top?  Did she not, of all the things she has read, ever see anything about public service being more about helping others and ensuring a better society than enriching one’s own interests?  It’s nice to know that Condi Rice acknowledges errors made in Iraq and elsewhere.  She could, however, help rectify the situation by removing herself from the administration.  Cardy was good at getting cheeseburgers for W; I wonder what Condi’s special talent is or was….

It is not by absorbing ‘the lessons of their times’ that they will learn, they will not be around in the future.
It is by learning from mistakes made by others in the past that they could have prevented making the same mistakes now.

Sadly, the “thousands of mistakes…” include the nearly 2,500 dead, the 17,000 maimed and wounded US troops, the underestimated
37,000 Iraqi dead…and the mistakes will continue until “victory” is accomplished.