Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Sunday that the United States had failed to understand the depth of hostility among Palestinians toward their longtime leaders. The hostility led to an election victory by the militant group Hamas that has reduced to tatters crucial assumptions underlying American policies and hopes in the Middle East.
"I've asked why nobody saw it coming," Ms. Rice said, speaking of her own staff. "It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse..."
Paul Bremer said the same thing about the insurgency in Iraq. ABC News:
Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC Television said on Friday.
Bremer, interviewed by the network in connection with release of his book on Iraq, recounted the decision to disband the Iraqi army quickly after arriving in Baghdad, a move many experts consider a major miscalculation.
When asked who was to blame for the subsequent Iraqi rebellion, in which thousands of Iraqis and Americans have died, Bremer said "we really didn't see the insurgency coming," the network said in a news release...
This phrase, 'nobody saw it coming,' must be one that this Republican administration likes to use.
1. They said that the didn't see the attacks of 9/11 coming despite the August 2001 PDB (presidential daily briefing) that said: Bin Laden determined to attack U.S.
2. They used the phrase when the levees failed in New Orleans. They had been warned before, but did nothing. (Media Matters)
Why can't they do their homework? Why didn't they plan for problems? These people need to read, study the problems, research solutions, plan extensively, discuss, evaluate, and have strategies/resources available to respond. (They didn't do any of these things before, during, or after the gulf hurricanes.)
I like these two quotes (even though I don't know their origins.)
*******The failure to plan is a plan for failure.
*******Plan for success.
Even now, while our young men and women are in Iraq, they still have not planned an exit strategy.
