Feith, in a speech last night at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, provided his most extensive public remarks on the war and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. When he briefed President Bush on U.S. plans for post-invasion Iraq, he recalled, "The original concept was not that the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority] would be around for many, many months." But, he said, L. Paul Bremer, who ran the U.S. occupation authority in 2003 and 2004, decided that Feith's plan "was not implementable" and instead embarked on a course that antagonized Iraqis and spurred an insurgency.
The history of this administration's excellent Iraq adventure is being written right before our eyes. The decision to invade Iraq was and is unassailably sound, but the fact that it turned so awful for so long was and is unassailably Paul Bremer's fault. They've got their fall guy. Just this weekend, with absolutely no evidence to support himself, Bill Kristol stated that the decision to invade Iraq was the reason that Libya and Iran abandoned their nuclear weapons programs, and therefore the idea of a preemptive invasion of a neighboring country is a "pretty good thing".
Time is healing all wounds for Feith, Perle and the lot. The mayhem of the last four and a half years means nothing to them, the cost to this country in dollars and lives, the cost to the Iraqi people, the destruction and chaotic dispersion of the refugees, the ethnic cleansing and the simmering religious hatreds that have been unleashed. All of this fades in their memories as they justify their decisions in hindsight. These men all sleep soundly, I'm sure.
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