perfidy

(Just kidding about that headline).

From CNN:

Pentagon admits Iraq mistakes

Back from a four-day whirlwind tour of Iraq, the Pentagon's number two civilian, Paul Wolfowitz, has admitted that many of the Bush administration's pre-war assumptions were wrong.

Among the things Wolfowitz says the U.S. guessed incorrectly was the assumption that some Iraqi Army units would switch sides; that the Iraqi Police would help maintain security; and that regime remnants would not resort to guerrilla tactics....

Speaking to reporters this week, Acting Army Chief Of Staff Gen. John Keane said it was entirely possible for the military to stretch its forces beyond the limits.

But, he says, "we don't want to do that -- so we're working very hard to avoid that."

The U.S. says it also had no idea how badly Iraq's infrastructure had been neglected over the past three decades.

The cost of putting the country back on its feet will be billions. According to the U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, it will take up to $13 billion "to rebuild and meet foreseeable power demands."

On top of that, he says, United Nations estimates indicate "we will have to spend $16 billion over the next 4 years just on water and getting decent water to the population."

My headline aside, I'm overjoyed that someone from the Bush Administration has the stones to address reality and the fact that it's Wolfowitz suggests that the NeoCon Leadership Coalition are finally willing to accept that they don't have all the answers. In any case, Wolfowitz's statement is miles better than the usual dissembling and selective amnesia. The best part is that the top brass admitting that mistakes were made means that the problems their mistakes created are being addressed.

The only bitter pill is the $13 billion dollar figure just for power, and the $16.5 billion dollar water bill. I guess by breaking the numbers down like that, they hope to keep us from adding them up.

But I'll put that aside for now. Despite my major problems with Bush's domestic agenda, I'm not so crazy that I wish for a continued cluster**** in Iraq just to spite the President. The faster Iraq gets back power, water, security, and stability, the happier I will be. Let's hope this only the first of many so-called 'honest' statements from Administration flacks that actually might deserve the name.

Mmmmmm... glasnost!