Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Mistake 8 – Failure to Understand the People
Every nation on earth has its own norms, sensitivities and its own socially unacceptable behaviors!
The American administration had ample time to build its case for the invasion of Iraq, to mobilize the American public opinion and to get its army ready.
Yet, it seems that they spent very little time to prepare for what the would do after the war!
I honestly fail to see why! There could have been no doubt as to the outcome of the military campaign, given the huge difference in power, technology and resources.
Admittedly, there were some preparations but these were based on poor advice from people some of whom were outright crooks out for their own benefit or had their own agenda; others were well-meaning people who had lived abroad for decades and were therefore unaware of the considerable changes that those quite stressful decades of wars and oppression had produced!
This led to a series of errors of judgment.
The worse mistake was the administration’s unwillingness and failure to understand the people after the occupation.
They still do things every single day that deeply offend the people.
The American administration had ample time to build its case for the invasion of Iraq, to mobilize the American public opinion and to get its army ready.
Yet, it seems that they spent very little time to prepare for what the would do after the war!
I honestly fail to see why! There could have been no doubt as to the outcome of the military campaign, given the huge difference in power, technology and resources.
Admittedly, there were some preparations but these were based on poor advice from people some of whom were outright crooks out for their own benefit or had their own agenda; others were well-meaning people who had lived abroad for decades and were therefore unaware of the considerable changes that those quite stressful decades of wars and oppression had produced!
This led to a series of errors of judgment.
The worse mistake was the administration’s unwillingness and failure to understand the people after the occupation.
They still do things every single day that deeply offend the people.
