THIRTEEN LITTLE WORDS

Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.

"No leadership, no strategy, no coordination, no structure and inaccessible to ordinary Iraqis."

That about sums up British envoy John Sawyers' impressions of the U.S. execution of the Iraq war.

The memos - written in the immediate aftermath of Mr. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" photo op on the USS Lincoln - detail a devastating ineptness and indifference at every level of the occupation. The Guardian's laundry list of Sawers' observations include:

* A lack of interest by the US commander, General Tommy Franks, in the post-invasion phase.
* The presence in the capital of the US Third Infantry Division, which took a heavyhanded approach to security.
* Squandering the initial sympathy of Iraqis.
* Bechtel, the main US civilian contractor, moving too slowly to reconnect basic services, such as electricity and water.
* Failure to deal with health hazards, such as 40% of Baghdad's sewage pouring into the Tigris and rubbish piling up in the streets.

Sound familiar? As SusanG points out, it's the Bush administration standard M.O. Whether it's foreign policy or domestic initiatives, this is the way the Bush gang governs, folks.

[Emphasis mine.]

Tags: Bush administration, British assessment, Iraq war