I wonder why they got an old Sergeant Major? Guess they ran through the list of officers and didn't find what they wanted.
There are disagreements about Iraq. Chalaby said that no matter what was done, we would have to walk knee deep through the manure left by Saddam.
Saddam left behind tons of ordinance, millions of small arms, Baathist nutballs who felt entitled to rule, Islamicist nutballs who would do anything to damage the US, Kurds who had 10 years of freedom from the central government, and the Shia, who wanted vengence for years of opression and bad government.
Such a mix doesn't turn into Luxembourg overnight.
Our strategy was, from the first, to break Saddam's power, then convince the Shia to take part in the central government to protect themselves. Every terrorist attack causes greater motivation for the Shia to take control of their destiny. Every counter to the terrorist activity is greater motivation for the Sunni to throw out the terrorists from their communities. A slow process, but a necessary one.
Wasnt he the goober who went on CNN every day saying the beltway sniper was a religious white guy gun nut who hated minorities?
He was wrong there too...whoda thunk it?