A correspondent of the New York Times has drawn together his work and the work of dozens of his colleagues. He is Todd Purdum who ordinarily serves in the Washington bureau of the Times. His book is called,
“A Time of Our Choosing.” It has to do with the American war in Iraq.
A memorable question in the book was asked by Lt. Colonel Dave Pere, a senior Marine Operations officer. As Colonel Pere stated it, “We’re there in Iraq. We’re the dog that caught the car. Now what do we do with it?”
Colonel Pere has asked a question that only the people who started this pre-emptive invasion of Iraq can attempt to answer. George Bush went hunting in Texas with his father on New Year’s Day and shot five quail. My belief is that Bush does not have the intellectual capacity to attempt to answer Colonel Pere’s question. And the killings in Iraq show no sign of diminishing. And Cheney goes hunting after hatchery raised birds. He shot more than several dozen. But no answer to Colonel Pere’s question from him either.
E. E. CARR
January 5, 2004
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Thirteen years later, no real answer to this ever turned up. We continued throwing money into a pit for a while, and then gradually replaced ground troops with drones. Mission accomplished, I guess?