Casualties of Underestimation (op-ed)
On May 1, 2003 President George W. Bush donned a flight suit, boarded a Lockheed S-3 Viking aircraft, landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, posed for photographs, and became the first sitting president to arrive on an aircraft carrier by plane.
The theatrics were prelude to a televised address about the Iraq war.
Bush stood at a podium behind a banner that read: Mission Accomplished. Bush said, “My fellow Americans major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our Allies have prevailed.”
The world watched and the enemy listened.
Bush’s remarks were made six weeks after the US led invasion of Iraq and American casualties stood at 139 dead and 542 wounded.
A month after “Mission Accomplished Day” the US led coalition forces met small scale resistance in Iraq. Bush responded right before the fourth of July. He said, “There are some who feel … The conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring ’em on.”
The next month on August 7 the first car bombing of the occupation occurred at the Jordanian embassy, on August 19 a truck bomb at UN headquarters killed 21 and top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and on August 29 a car bomb killed an influential cleric and 84 others.
By November the estimated insurgency strength in Iraq was 15,000.
By the end of Bush’s presidency the 2007 estimated insurgency strength in Iraq was 70,000, and American casualties were over 3,000 dead and 675 were wounded per month.
In a January 2014 interview President Barack Obama was asked about an al-Qaeda affiliated force. Obama replied, “The analogy we use around here sometimes … Is if a JV team puts on Laker uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Byrant.”
The interviewer responded, “But that JV team just took over Fallujah.” (Four days before the interview the Islamic State captured the city and raised its flag over government buildings.)
Obama said he understood then dismissed the conquest as a local power struggle and implied Isis had no capacity to launch major attacks beyond the region.
Explaining counterterrorism strategy a former defense strategist said, “Denying the perception of strength is important. If you can counter their narrative and call these guys jokers … In general that kind of thing is helpful.”
Then on June 24 Secretary of State John Kerry said the administration was “surprised” when Isis captured Mosul, Iraq.
Then in November 2015 Obama gave another interview.
Once again the world watched and the enemy listened.
Obama stated that US strategy against Isis has “contained them”. The next day coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris. There were 130 people killed, 368 were injured, and Isis claimed responsibility.
In December 2015 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced Nigeria has “technically won the war” against Boko Haram. (Boko Haram is described as the world’s deadliest terror group.) Buhari praised the reorganized Nigerian Military who received training from the British, the Americans, and the French.
Buhari stated Boko Haram could no longer launch “conventional attacks” and was reduced to fighting with improvised explosive devices.
He continued, “A key priority of the government now is to rebuild … and help all displaced people return to their homes.” (In six years Boko Haram destroyed more than 1,000 schools and displaced more than 1.5 million people.)
One month later Boko Haram regrouped and launched a conventional attack on another village. They firebombed huts and slaughtered over eighty people.
The assault lasted hours.
Afterwards witnesses spoke of bullet riddled bodies lying in the streets. One man escaped and hid behind a tree. Like the world he watched and he listened to children scream as the underestimated enemy burned them alive.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 2/10/16
The theatrics were prelude to a televised address about the Iraq war.
Bush stood at a podium behind a banner that read: Mission Accomplished. Bush said, “My fellow Americans major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our Allies have prevailed.”
The world watched and the enemy listened.
Bush’s remarks were made six weeks after the US led invasion of Iraq and American casualties stood at 139 dead and 542 wounded.
A month after “Mission Accomplished Day” the US led coalition forces met small scale resistance in Iraq. Bush responded right before the fourth of July. He said, “There are some who feel … The conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring ’em on.”
The next month on August 7 the first car bombing of the occupation occurred at the Jordanian embassy, on August 19 a truck bomb at UN headquarters killed 21 and top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and on August 29 a car bomb killed an influential cleric and 84 others.
By November the estimated insurgency strength in Iraq was 15,000.
By the end of Bush’s presidency the 2007 estimated insurgency strength in Iraq was 70,000, and American casualties were over 3,000 dead and 675 were wounded per month.
In a January 2014 interview President Barack Obama was asked about an al-Qaeda affiliated force. Obama replied, “The analogy we use around here sometimes … Is if a JV team puts on Laker uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Byrant.”
The interviewer responded, “But that JV team just took over Fallujah.” (Four days before the interview the Islamic State captured the city and raised its flag over government buildings.)
Obama said he understood then dismissed the conquest as a local power struggle and implied Isis had no capacity to launch major attacks beyond the region.
Explaining counterterrorism strategy a former defense strategist said, “Denying the perception of strength is important. If you can counter their narrative and call these guys jokers … In general that kind of thing is helpful.”
Then on June 24 Secretary of State John Kerry said the administration was “surprised” when Isis captured Mosul, Iraq.
Then in November 2015 Obama gave another interview.
Once again the world watched and the enemy listened.
Obama stated that US strategy against Isis has “contained them”. The next day coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris. There were 130 people killed, 368 were injured, and Isis claimed responsibility.
In December 2015 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced Nigeria has “technically won the war” against Boko Haram. (Boko Haram is described as the world’s deadliest terror group.) Buhari praised the reorganized Nigerian Military who received training from the British, the Americans, and the French.
Buhari stated Boko Haram could no longer launch “conventional attacks” and was reduced to fighting with improvised explosive devices.
He continued, “A key priority of the government now is to rebuild … and help all displaced people return to their homes.” (In six years Boko Haram destroyed more than 1,000 schools and displaced more than 1.5 million people.)
One month later Boko Haram regrouped and launched a conventional attack on another village. They firebombed huts and slaughtered over eighty people.
The assault lasted hours.
Afterwards witnesses spoke of bullet riddled bodies lying in the streets. One man escaped and hid behind a tree. Like the world he watched and he listened to children scream as the underestimated enemy burned them alive.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 2/10/16
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