WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- Just over a year ago, the Pentagon had promised a "shock and awe" campaign in Iraq, and by George, we got shock this past week -- an abundance of it. As for awe, there is little doubt that the sickening images trickling out of Abu Ghraib prison is providing a profusion of it to shocked Iraqis, as well as to the rest of the world.
What a difference a year makes.
As preparations for the invasion of Iraq were underway a little over year ago, the Pentagon adopted the doctrine of "shock and awe," which was to herald a new, rapid and highly efficient war. The term "shock and awe" was based on a book written by military strategist Harlan Ullman, a man much admired by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
As it turned out, the Iraqi resistance to the U.S.-led invasion fizzled out quickly, and Baghdad fell without too much trouble.
However, a full year later, that much-promised "shock and awe" from Iraq is beginning to emerge. Except that it is not exactly the kind of shock nor awe Rumsfeld and his Pentagon war planners had initially intended. This shock and awe is not only shocking and awing Iraqis, but the rest of the world as well, and particularly the Arab world. And it is certain to have repercussions on U.S. domestic politics, just six months shy of the November presidential elections.
The horrific images and atrocious horror stories of Iraqi detainees being abused, tortured, forced to lie naked in dog piles, or "pyramids," made to simulate sexual acts, handcuffed and hooded, forced to wear women's underwear on their heads, beaten and humiliated, are shocking the whole world and losing the Arab world's hearts and minds faster than you can say al-Hurra.
Speaking of which, al-Hurra, or "the free one," the U.S.-funded Arabic language satellite television based in Springfield, Va., which is seen by only about 6 percent or 7 percent of the Arab television viewing public, failed to impress or change many hearts and minds when it (and the Dubai-based al-Arabiya) aired President George W. Bush's non-apology to the people of Iraq Wednesday.
The whole prisoner abuse incident makes one wonder what they -- from Donald Rumsfeld on down to the generals and field commanders in Iraq -- were thinking.
The simple answer is that they were not thinking. And this is where much of the problem lies. Not only were they not thinking, they refused to listen to those who knew the local customs and tried to offer guidance.
Starting with nominating a woman to run prison facilities in Iraq, which is seen as taboo in an Arab and Muslim country, and where the prison population is entirely male.
"This is simply not acceptable in our culture," Sheikh Mohammed Mohammed Ali, a leading Shiite scholar told United Press International.
With the release of new photographs Thursday, a number of Democrats are calling for Rumsfeld's resignation and some are even calling for his impeachment. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Thursday to CNN that "it's really time for Secretary Rumsfeld to step down."
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said, "Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has been and is in denial. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld must go."
But President Bush, however, seemed determined to stand by his defense secretary.
"Donald Rumsfeld is a good secretary of defense," said Bush speaking to the press Thursday after a meeting at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah. "He (Rumsfeld) is an important part of my Cabinet. He will stay in my Cabinet." Bush had earlier apologized to the Jordanian monarch.
But with the president's new approval ratings coming in at 47 percent, according to a CNN poll released Thursday, (down from 51 percent) and likely to drop even more as the Iraqi detainee crisis gathers steam, the president may yet re-think his stance on his secretary of defense.
This would not be the first time President Bush reverses stated policy on Iraq.
Indeed, the Bush administration has reversed its views on a number of points. Consider the following:
-- U.S. Marines issued a number of ultimatums to the Fallujah rebels holding out in the rebellious town, then cut deals with them and settled on allowing the newly formed Fallujah Brigade to take control of the town. Some members of the new brigade are former militiamen who fought the Marines.
-- Banishing former Baathists then naming a Baathist Republican Guard general to command the Fallujah Brigade, then only a day later ousting him and replacing him with another former Iraqi army general.
-- Calling Iran a member of the "axis of evil," and then negotiating with Iran over the Moqtada Sadr debacle.
-- Sidelining the United Nations on Iraq and now placing great hope on Lakhdar Brahimi, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy to Iraq, hoping he can pull a proverbial rabbit out of the Iraqi hat.
The list goes on.
"This policy is giving incoherence a bad name," said Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
No doubt more shock and awe is likely follow in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.
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