November 28, 2003
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED:
Report: Hesitancy to be called 'occupiers' hurts US in Iraq (Tom Regan, 11/28/03, csmonitor.com)
A leaked postwar self-evaluation by the Army's 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) showed several serious problems during the invasion of Iraq, and after Baghdad fell. The report shows that American military commanders did not impose curfews, halt looting or order Iraqis back to work after Saddam Hussein's regime fell because US policymakers were reluctant to declare American troops an occupying force.
Political correctness and Great Power politics makes for an uncomfortable fit, eh?
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 28, 2003 1:31 PM
Comments
I'm not sure that's the point. The US delayed making the declaration that major combat operations were over because that would make us, under international law, an occupying power rather than a combatant. As a result, we would be responsible for the civil administration of the country, which was a job we didn't particularly want and wished to delay as long as we could.
Posted by: David Cohen at November 28, 2003 11:01 PM