DANSE MACABRE ,by Zimmerman/Gassman

Misdeeds and their Reward

If the Democrats really want to pursue accountability in the 08 election, suggest the following platform plank: RESCIND AWARD OF THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM GRANTED TO AMBASSADOR PAUL BREMER, GEORGE TENET AND GENERAL TOMMY FRANKS.

Massive malfeasance by this trio as they are linked to the Iraq War is clearly stated in two recently published Books: COBRA II by General Zinni and Michael Gordon, and FIASCO by Thomas E. Ricks. Investigative congressional staffers' work is simplified. Just ask the three at committee in sworn testimony WHAT ABOUT THIS AND WHAT ABOUT THAT – they would all probably take the Fifth Amendment or give a lame excuse that they were following orders. If they say they were following orders, ask: “WHOSE?”. Then the lure of the chase for accountability will become even more intriguing.

Lost track of DEAD WRONG, SLAM DUNK Tenet. Given the bad intelligence the Israelis had in the Lebanese war, there is a high probability he was advising them. As Director of Central Intelligence, he provided corrupt intelligence on 9/11 warning and the debacle in Iraq. A massive amount of resources were spent on searching unsuccessfully for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after the war, to justify his flawed estimates – WMD was the reason we invaded Iraq – remember? Troops needed to stop the looting, secure ammo dumps and provide security were sent on desperate searches for WMD. Tenet was a disgrace. He was a major player in misleading the US into War in Iraq.

General Tommy Franks’ place in history will go down as the worst military planner who planned winning a battle but failed to plan to win the war. The last time I saw him on TV was a few months ago on Matthews’ HARDBALL. He was asked about criticisms of his role in the invasion of Iraq contained in the book Cobra II. He refused to answer the questions Matthews posed; when asked why, he replied that he did not want to help sell the book. He has been described by subordinates as cunning, but not smart. In this case, he was neither; came across simply as a horse's ass. General Franks’ war plan did not have enough troops and had no operational plan for phase IV: the occupation. Unsecured ammo dumps were looted by the insurgents and looters stole just about everything from government buildings and hospitals to include toilet bowls. Twenty-five percent of treasured artifacts from the Baghdad Museum are still missing. US troops watched the Baghdad Library burn. His plan did not anticipate Iraqi paramilitary forces which later folded into the insurgency. And he was unable to close the borders, because of insufficient troops. General Franks was from Texas; went to the same school as Laura Bush. Like the President, he simply reached his level of incompetence. He did capture Baghdad, so give him credit for that; but that was only the start of a war that is still raging. He quickly retired after that with his military campaign unfinished; some say to write a book and capture the royalties while he was still GENERAL, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...

Ambassador Bremer, AKA the father of the Iraqi insurgency, was last heard from organizing a Catholic College or University somewhere out West – the American people have a bone to pick with him on how billions of dollars slipped through his fingers as chief of the Coalition Government In Iraq. His performance as chief of the Coalition Government in Iraq is textbook for failure. Contrary to the advice of US Iraqi military leadership and CIA in Iraq, he made three major policy decisions that inflamed the situation and led to the current insurgency: a) Enforced a ruthless program of debaathefication in all sectors of Iraqi society; b) Disbanded the Iraqi military forces and police; and c) Closed unprofitable state run enterprises. The net result was to create a large pool unemployed enraged Iraqis which eventually formed the insurgency. There is a story that at a convocation at Coalition HQs of tribal leadership from all over Iraq, one of Bremer's deputies was asked by a leading Sunni Sheik whether the Americans came to Iraq to liberate it or occupy it – the deputy responded: SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN. At that, nearly half the Sheiks walked out of the meeting – the Sheik who asked the question said as he left: WE WILL FIGHT YOU EVERY INCH OF THE WAY – and they have. Bremer was put in by Rumsfeld and his neocons to have more influence over the occupation, and his staff included large numbers of neocons. He replaced a dismissed General Garner who was not that sympathetic to the neocons or their policies. Bremer was unqualified and inept, and controled by the neocons – remember he proposed a new Iraqi flag with Israeli colors. His outrageous occupation policies and massive arrests and torture, were straight out of the doomed Israeli occupation playbook.

Awarding of Presidential Freedom medals to these three failures was a crass effort to propagandize, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, a contrived success of the war by Bush. By now, it has dawned on the American people that they have been misled and HAD by Bush's Iraqi war. Napoleon said medals are the baubles men die for – Bush just found another cynical use for medals. No other word but despicable can describe what he did: he awarded medals to Tenet, Franks and Bremer for failure, pretending accomplishment. Colonel RE Bartos USA RET