The Foreign Service Journal, March 2004

22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 4 T HE WAR IN I RAQ WAS A TRIUMPH OF PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION , BUT THE POSTWAR SITUATION IS A MESS . H ERE ’ S HOW IT HAPPENED . B Y D AVID R IEFF F O C U S O N I R A Q istorically, it is rare that a warm welcome is extended to an occupying military force for very long, unless, that is, the postwar goes very smoothly. And in Iraq, the postwar occupation has not gone smoothly. … Despite administration claims, it is simply not true that no one could have predicted the chaos that ensued after the fall of Saddam Hussein. In fact, many officials in the United States, both military and civilian, as well as many Iraqi exiles, predicted quite accurately the perilous state of things that exists in Iraq today. … What went wrong is that the H Adam Niklewicz B LUEPRINT FOR A M ESS