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When George W. Bush did his infamous "Mission Accomplished" stunt,[1] he was sort of right. The "war" had been won. The trouble was that there was no plan for w
by goodcanadian 7y ago
When George W. Bush did his infamous "Mission Accomplished" stunt,[1] he was sort of right. The "war" had been won. The trouble was that there was no plan for what to do next. The occupation was managed poorly and the insurgency had a chance to grow turning what really was a quick victory into a protracted "war."
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Accomplished_speech
- agapon 7y agoOf course, the real root cause of many subsequent troubles and years of war is that there was no reason to attack, even less invade, either Iraq or Afghanistan after 9/11. GWB just had to do something to show that he protects Americans and retaliates against enemies. So, he did that. And it was a big mistake on many levels.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoIraq? Perhaps not. But Afghanistan was sheltering Osama Bin Laden, and would not hand him over (or even expel him). Leaving him free to operate after 9/11 did not look like a good option.
- austincheney 7y agoYou can argue the supposed need of invasion either way. That had no bearing on why it took long though.
- taejo 7y agoAmerica won the war, but lost the peace