Inside the United States, Iraq has become the ultimate symbol of the hubris of the neo-conservatives to establish America’s hegemony. But some of their prominent members are already washing their hands of the original responsibility and ebullience with which they pushed for the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Richard Perle, pejoratively referred to inside a number of circles in Washington as the “prince of darkness”, is now placing the blame for failure in Iraq on the Bush administration. In an interview with the magazine Vanity Fair, he said that that the chief blame for this unfolding catastrophe should be placed on the devastating dysfunction within the administration.

He added, “The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn’t get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly … At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible … I don’t think he realized the extent of the opposition within his own administration, and the disloyalty.”

Before Saddam is hanged come the charades of appeals and counter-appeals. But his fate was sealed the day he was captured. He had known it all along. That might be one reason he was putting up the show of defiance and utter contempt for his jailers and for the Iraqi government. Now the only purpose the former dictator seems to have is to go down as a defiant nationalist or even a martyr in the eyes of Iraqi Sunnis. Asiatimes / (Bulatlat.com)

Ehsan Ahrari is the CEO of Strategic Paradigms, an Alexandria, Virginia-based defense consultancy. He can be reached at eahrari@cox.net or stratparadigms@yahoo.com. His columns appear regularly in Asia Times Online. His website: www.ehsanahrari.com.

 Save as PDF