Remember The Bush Plan For Iraq?

By driftglass — November 11, 2017

Decapitate the government. (from Think Progress):

From a British memo that noted that “Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme” to memoirs by administration members Richard Clarke and Paul O’Neill, there have been numerous disclosures that strongly suggest that the Bush administration was plotting a war against Iraq while recognizing it was not a threat to the United States.

Now, with the help of a Freedom of Information Act request, the National Security Archive has obtained a newly declassified document that details talking points that emerged from a meeting between Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and CENTCOM Commander General Tommy Franks in November 2001.

The talking points mainly revolve around the logistical planning for a war in Iraq. They detail the “decapitation” of the Iraqi government by U.S. forces and make regime change the goal...

Loot the nation's natural resources. (from the Sydney Morning Herald, April 2003):

Oil ministry an untouched building in ravaged Baghdad

Since US forces rolled into central Baghdad a week ago, one of the sole public buildings untouched by looters has been Iraq's massive oil ministry, which is under round-the-clock surveillance by troops.

The imposing building in the Al-Mustarisiya quarter is guarded by around 50 US tanks which block every entrance, while sharpshooters are positioned on the roof and in the windows.

The curious onlooker is clearly unwelcome. Any motorist who drifts within a few metres of the main entrance is told to leave immediately.

Baghdad residents have complained that US troops should do more to protect against the looters, most of them Shi'ite Muslims repressed by Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime who live in the vast slum known as Saddam City on the northern outskirts.

But while museums, banks, hotels and libraries have been ransacked, the oil ministry remains secure.

Make themselves and their cronies rich (from Wikipedia, a tip of the iceberg):

[Vice President Dick] Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton Company from 1995 to 2000 and has received stock options from Halliburton. In the run-up to the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded a $7 billion contract for which only Halliburton was allowed to bid.

Put loyal, incompetent hacks in charge of everything (from the Washington Post, 09/17/06)

Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq

Adapted from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, copyright Knopf 2006

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade .

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting...

And a plutocrat-wet-dream tax plan (from the Washington Post, 11/02/03):

U.S. Administrator Imposes Flat Tax System on Iraq

The flat tax, long a dream of economic conservatives, is finally getting its day -- not in the United States, but in Iraq.

It took L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Baghdad, no more than a stroke of the pen Sept. 15 to accomplish what eluded the likes of publisher Steve Forbes, Reps. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) and Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) over the course of a decade and two presidential campaigns.

"The highest individual and corporate income tax rates for 2004 and subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent," Bremer wrote in Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 37, "Tax Strategy for 2003," issued last month.percent) and Gramm (16 percent) favored for the United States. And, unless a future Iraqi government rescinds it, the flat tax will remain long after the Americans have left.

"It's extremely good news," said Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform and a Bush administration ally...

Turns out that -- surprise! -- the Bush Plan for Iraq was also the Trump Plan for America.

Decapitate the government (from Vox):

2 dozen current and former EPA staffers explain how Trump is wrecking the agency

“We’re just kind of being told, ‘Do the opposite thing you did 18 months ago.’”

and from ABC News:

Leadership at the State Department is being "depleted at a dizzying speed," the president of the Foreign Service officers’ union said. Since January, the State Department has lost 60% of its career ambassadors, 42% of its career ministers, and 15% of its minister counselors – and the numbers "are still falling."

Loot the nation's natural resources (from Mother Jones):

Trump Made It a Lot Easier for Oil Companies to Drill in National Parks

Make themselves and their cronies rich

Just read pretty much any credible news source on any given day.

Put loyal, incompetent hacks in charge of everything (from the Washington Post)

Donald Trump has assembled the worst Cabinet in American history

Any time a new administration comes into office, there will be some complaining about the new president’s cabinet picks. But we’re seeing something extraordinary happening now. Donald Trump’s cabinet brings with it a combination of ethical problems, inexperience, hostility to the missions of the departments its members are being called to lead, and plain old ignorance that is simply unprecedented.

This is shaping up to be nothing less than the worst cabinet in American history...

And a plutocrat-wet-dream tax plan (from New York Magazine):

Gary Cohn: ‘The Most Excited Group Out There Are Big CEOs, About Our Tax Plan’

It's not Trumpism.

It's Republicanism.

And yeah, they're coming for your Medicare. And Medicaid. And Obamacare. And Social Security. And anything else that isn't nailed down.

Back when Dubya was busy lying us into his Iraqi Debacle, our worst domestic economic problem was what to do with that terrible Clinton Administration budget surplus.