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Monday, March 27, 2006

It's like a fractal

The relatively minor screwups in the Iraq war have an uncanny resemblance to the war as a whole. From Juan Cole, discussing the Shiite-hitting-the-fan happenings yesterday (emphasis added):
Then US forces raided a secret prison of the Ministry of the Interior.

They captured 17 Sudanese inmates. After an investigation, the US finally acknowledged that the assault had made a mistake. The 17 Sudanese really were guerrillas or in any case legitimately held.

In other words, the jail raid was based on poor information and false premises. It is possible that our troops also messed up indirectly.
We'll probably find out, eventually, that the military knew the information was poor and the premises false, but were set on the path to the raid and refused to let facts get in the way.

And who believes the current story? Do YOU think the 17 Sudanese were legitimately held?