Audit Lays Bare Bush’s Myopia, Naivete on Iraqi Insurgency

A newly released audit from Congress’ Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction lays bare the stunning myopia, naivete and incompetence that accompanied Bush & Co. on their march to Baghdad.

As the AP reported:

Guerrilla attacks in Iraq have forced the cancellation of more than 60 percent of water and sanitation projects, in part because American intelligence failed to predict the brutal insurgency, a U.S. government audit said.

Leaving aside the question of whether America should have invaded Iraq in the first place, reports like this audit continue to highlight the near-criminal negligence of war planners who failed to anticipate the need for greater post-invasion security measures. The AP story continues:

American goals to fix Iraq’s infrastructure will never be reached, mainly because insurgents have chased away contractors and forced the diversion of repair funds into security, [according to the audit].

Sen. Russ Feingold was right to seize upon the magnitude of this audit, saying in a statement:

The report makes clear that we are paying a heavy price for the Administration’s decision to lead us into war without a plan to manage the aftermath of the military operation.

Really, did anyone think the president was up to this job? Did anyone really believe that a man so ignorant of the region’s history and its people, so openly hostile to nuance, so unflinchingly self-righteous, so contemptuous of international alliances, was the right person to try to refashion Iraq into a democracy?