What Went Wrong?

The Guardian (UK) reports on a series of memos from Britain's top envoy in which he paints the American administration in Iraq as "an unbelievable mess." John Sawers, Prime Minister Blair's envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street in May and June 2003 that described the US failures.

According to the Guardian, the mistakes include:

· A lack of interest by the US commander, General Tommy Franks, in the post-invasion phase.

· The presence in the capital of the US Third Infantry Division, which took a heavyhanded approach to security.

· Squandering the initial sympathy of Iraqis.

· Bechtel, the main US civilian contractor, moving too slowly to reconnect basic services, such as electricity and water.

· Failure to deal with health hazards, such as 40% of Baghdad's sewage pouring into the Tigris and rubbish piling up in the streets.

· Sacking of many of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party, even though many of them held relatively junior posts.

Part of his description of the American presence, in one report entitled "What's Going Wrong?" includes these words:

No leadership, no strategy, no coordination, no structure and inaccessible to ordinary Iraqis.

The buck stops with George Bush. Let's hold him accountable by throwing out his stooges in Congress this November. Let's make it clear to Bush and his incompetent appointees that their mistakes have cost American lives, American prestige, and American economic solvency.