Recycled - Today's Machining World

john batiste
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Photo: The staff at Klein Steel, Rochester New York. Photo courtesy of John Batiste, Klein Steel.
Iraq War started March of 2003. But I’ve been very vocal
about this debacle for the past 18 months. I’ve testified
five times in Washington. I’ve written many Op-Eds. I’ve
spoke to many groups. We went about this totally wrong.
LG: Why was the intelligence so bad?
JB: I think this administration had a preconceived agenda
to take on Saddam Hussein before they were even elected.
LG: So that overrode any intelligence that they may
have had.
JB: Sure, it overrode all reason.
NG: Even before September 11?
JB: Absolutely, and I’m a Republican. It breaks my heart
to say this. They were bound and determined to take
down the regime of Saddam Hussein before they were
elected into office.
LG: Wolfowitz certainly knew the background of
Saddam Hussein and how he, through his tyrannical
rule, was able to run Iraq with all the various factions.
Yet you have the invasion and you have seemingly no
expectations of what’s going to happen after Saddam
is toppled. In retrospect, this is hard to believe.
JB: It is. The administration completely ignored the lessons
of history. History books are replete with problems and
examples of the challenges of this region called Mesopotamia.
The British Empire had had a mess on their hands
in the last century. It’s amazing they went back in with us.
This region is so divided. It’s defined by Arabs and Kurds
and Sunnis, and tribes against tribes. They hate each other.
There’s also an element of criminal activity that really
resembles Mafia, gang warfare.
LG: At what point did you see it degenerating into a
civil war?
JB: Our 1st Infantry Division was there in January of
2004. By March of 2004, we knew we had a budding
insurgency on our hands that was rapidly metastasizing.
The turning point for me was probably the elections of
January 2005, where it became clear to those of us on the
ground the high voter turnout rate had nothing to do with
an appreciation for democracy. It was all about protecting
turf. It was all about the Shia block voting one way, the
Sunni block not voting in those days, and the Kurds who
were deliberately changing the demographics around
Kirkuk so they would own the oil for the future breakup
of Iraq; it was important to them to have all that treasure.
LG: Do you see any chance of putting Humpty
Dumpty back together again?
JB: Here’s the problem that we’re in now: I often equate
a comprehensive national strategy to a four-legged stool.
Today’s Machining World