FUBAR or plan G in Iraq


The film "Saving Private Ryan" taught me what the great WW2 acronym FUBAR meant for the GIs. I stuck in on my office door at the University of Adelaide for much the same reason. Phillip Carter in Slate resurrects the term in reference to the ever failing "plans" which the US have invented to fight the guerrilla war in Iraq. To counter those who now see the immanent failure and urge that there be a "Plan B", Carter argues that there have already been 6 plans in Iraq (A-F) all of which have failed miserably and that there should be instead a Plan G (for "get of of Iraq"). According to Cater the failed plans have been:

A. Rumsfeld's deeply flawed theory of "shock and awe"
B. the transition of security tasks to a new and smaller headquarters led by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and the transition of reconstruction to the nascent Coalition Provisional Authority, led by American proconsul L. Paul Bremer
C. in summer 2003—a combination of heavy-handed combat operations and token reconstruction efforts
D. a phased withdrawal and drawdown plan, which was contingent upon the successful transfer of security responsibility to Iraqi forces and the achievement of political milestones like the ratification of Iraq's Constitution
E. Operation Together Forward I and II. These joint pushes to secure Baghdad followed a "clear, hold, and build" strategy lifted straight from the counterinsurgency playbook
F. the current Petraeus plan —the surge—grew out of the recognition that Plans C, D, and E had created today's overlapping conflicts in Iraq, and that our best hope for Iraq was to establish some sense of security, which would enable the Maliki government to stabilize itself

I would add that the current plan seems to be to hold out until the change over to a Democratic regime in early 2009, dump the mess in their laps, and then blame them for the fiasco. A great Rovian scheme.

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Posted: Mon - April 23, 2007 at 09:49 PM        

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