Quotations (11)

Cobra II

the Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq /
1 to 11 of 11 items
As poorly positioned to keep order as the Americans were, many Iraqis at first were thankful for the removal of Saddam's regime or simply too numbed by the rapid turn of events and display of American power to complain. But when order and…
The problem was not just one of numbers. The United States also lacked the right sort of troops for the postwar phase: it needed to have more civil affairs units, military police, and interpreters. The result was that Anbar Province…
"But after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, the requirements were reversed: mass, not speed, was requisite for sealing the victory. Military technology was less decisive against an opponent that faded away into Iraqi cities only to…
"Asked about the lessons of the still unfinished war, the defense secretary [Donald Rumsfeld] was quick to tout the virtues of military transformation. 'I think if I had to pull out one lesson that we've learned over the past four or five…
"The doctrine on peacekeeping operations is that the initial month or so is critical."
"'Blue Force Tracker drives the CINC.'"
"With so many suspected [WMD] sites there did not seem to be enough troops to go around."
"The Anbar province, which includes the towns of Ramadi, Falluja, and Haditha ... remained an 'economy of force' operation. Every time the Americans massed force to put out one fire they created a vacuum elsewhere that the insurgents…
"The briefing made the point that however many forces might be required to defeat the foe, maintaining security afterward was determined by an entirely different set of calculations, including the population of the occupied nation, its…
"Unless Saddam's regime cracked at the start of the war, the Hybrid [plan], in effect, would be akin to sprinting around a track and stopping to catch your breath before resuming the race."
"[Colin C.] Powell [Secretary of State under President George W. Bush] was later said to have invoked the the Pottery Barn rule: If you break it, you own it."