Failing at Regime Change

We flunked Iraq and Afghanistan

Failing at regime change

The Iraq fiasco was tainted by a combination of bureaucratic stupidity and ineptitude. The Bush functionaries dismantled the military which could otherwise have facilitated a relatively smooth transition to civilian governance. They literally drowned the emergent government in cash, creating a feeding frenzy for corrupt contractors and bureaucrats, wasting tens of billions of dollars without positive result. Was our performance in Afghanistan any better?

The NYT 01/04/2025 included a report by John Sopko, inspector general for Afghan reconstruction to the effect that the foxes were sill in charge of the henhouse. Again, we proceeded under the delusion that we could change a societies’ embedded culture. Beyond incompetence was a pattern of lies and deception masking repeated failures. American functionaries, he reports, benefited personally through promotions and salary increases lying about the result and wasting American funds. Literally hundreds of billions of dollars was wasted that might have met our domestic needs.

It seems we learn nothing from experience.