Comments on: Imperial Life in the Emerald City http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/01/30/imperial-life-in-the-emerald-city/ A posting every day; an interesting idea every three months... Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:28:09 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5.2 hourly 1 By: D. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/01/30/imperial-life-in-the-emerald-city/comment-page-1/#comment-98708 D. Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:12:42 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/?p=1214#comment-98708 It's true, Bremer was an unmitigated disaster. Despite his occasional claims otherwise, the man almost single-handedly pulled defeat from the jaws of victory by dissolving the Iraqi army, dumping thousands of armed, trained soldiers back into their local communities at a critical juncture. A true example of failing upward. It’s true, Bremer was an unmitigated disaster. Despite his occasional claims otherwise, the man almost single-handedly pulled defeat from the jaws of victory by dissolving the Iraqi army, dumping thousands of armed, trained soldiers back into their local communities at a critical juncture. A true example of failing upward.

]]> By: Drew http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/01/30/imperial-life-in-the-emerald-city/comment-page-1/#comment-98686 Drew Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:39:33 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/?p=1214#comment-98686 I work for a very large gubbmint agency, over 20 years now. Honestly, for the most part I couldn't tell you who was in charge: it really didn't matter day to day or even year to year. It seemed like it made no difference at all. During a 4 year period we had a very capable tyrant in charge. He managed to drive the entire agency into the ground in about 20 months. People were fired for opposing his will, draconian internal investigations and "therapy" internal transfers were abundant. Productivity nearly went to zero, critical positions/duties went unfilled because nobody wanted to apply under such conditions and mindless "yes men" filled the upper ranks. Its been almost 10 years since this guy left and we are still trying to unwind his people and policies. It has to be similar to Bush installing Bremer in charge of Iraq. Bremer is the one that specified ethnic based distribution of food, jobs and resources. He had no idea what he was doing and he kicked off the whole Iraq operation into one big huge blunder...that persists into today. So, it turns out that an individual in charge can really matter if they are incompetent and hell bent on destruction. Much easier to destroy things than to build them...and one person can easily destroy a lot of past progress quickly. I work for a very large gubbmint agency, over 20 years now. Honestly, for the most part I couldn’t tell you who was in charge: it really didn’t matter day to day or even year to year. It seemed like it made no difference at all.

During a 4 year period we had a very capable tyrant in charge. He managed to drive the entire agency into the ground in about 20 months. People were fired for opposing his will, draconian internal investigations and “therapy” internal transfers were abundant. Productivity nearly went to zero, critical positions/duties went unfilled because nobody wanted to apply under such conditions and mindless “yes men” filled the upper ranks. Its been almost 10 years since this guy left and we are still trying to unwind his people and policies.

It has to be similar to Bush installing Bremer in charge of Iraq. Bremer is the one that specified ethnic based distribution of food, jobs and resources. He had no idea what he was doing and he kicked off the whole Iraq operation into one big huge blunder…that persists into today.

So, it turns out that an individual in charge can really matter if they are incompetent and hell bent on destruction. Much easier to destroy things than to build them…and one person can easily destroy a lot of past progress quickly.

]]> By: johnc http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/01/30/imperial-life-in-the-emerald-city/comment-page-1/#comment-98684 johnc Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:38:51 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/?p=1214#comment-98684 I'm not familiar with the book. It does sound terrible that one of the consequences of the US invasion of Iraq was that equality among Iraqis was diminished. Except when Saddam was still in power, I remember reading articles about how Iraqis were not treated equally. When Saddam first came to power, there was great optimism that he would reform society so that all Iraqis would be treated equally. But for some reason after that it actually turned out that not only were Sunnis better treated than Shiites, but Saddam's own Sunni tribe was treated better than all of the other Sunni tribes. Am I remembering incorrectly, or were the articles I read just plain wrong, or were the Iraqis in the book just mouthing Saddam's propaganda that was used to cover up de facto inequality? I’m not familiar with the book. It does sound terrible that one of the consequences of the US invasion of Iraq was that equality among Iraqis was diminished. Except when Saddam was still in power, I remember reading articles about how Iraqis were not treated equally. When Saddam first came to power, there was great optimism that he would reform society so that all Iraqis would be treated equally. But for some reason after that it actually turned out that not only were Sunnis better treated than Shiites, but Saddam’s own Sunni tribe was treated better than all of the other Sunni tribes. Am I remembering incorrectly, or were the articles I read just plain wrong, or were the Iraqis in the book just mouthing Saddam’s propaganda that was used to cover up de facto inequality?

]]> By: philg http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/01/30/imperial-life-in-the-emerald-city/comment-page-1/#comment-98644 philg Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:30:15 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/?p=1214#comment-98644 ridata: The U.S. government is more than just one person, so changing one person at the top doesn't necessarily have the huge effect that voters hope for. I think the safest assumption is that the U.S. government will perform with similar efficiency under Obama as it did under Bush. At least with the stimulus plan, however inefficient, most of the money will stay here in the U.S. That is a reason to hope. ridata: The U.S. government is more than just one person, so changing one person at the top doesn’t necessarily have the huge effect that voters hope for. I think the safest assumption is that the U.S. government will perform with similar efficiency under Obama as it did under Bush. At least with the stimulus plan, however inefficient, most of the money will stay here in the U.S. That is a reason to hope.

]]> By: ridata http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/01/30/imperial-life-in-the-emerald-city/comment-page-1/#comment-98640 ridata Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:47:07 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/?p=1214#comment-98640 Is this to say Obama will be as bad economically as Bush was? Trying to get the $B's and $T's in stimulus money? Is this to say Obama will be as bad economically as Bush was? Trying to get the $B’s and $T’s in stimulus money?

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