Bush Iraq Policy Ignores Past Errors, Historians Say (Update1)

[fearnobush]

May 17 (Bloomberg) -- As revelations about the treatment of prisoners in Iraq fuel worldwide opposition to the U.S.-led occupation, authors and historians including Dilip Hiro and Niall Ferguson say President George W. Bush has failed to learn from the Arab nation's past.

The publication of pictures of naked detainees being abused and humiliated in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison ``marked the shedding of the last part of the fig leaf worn by President Bush to justify his invasion of Iraq,'' said Hiro, 64, the London-based author of 25 books, including five on the Middle East. Among them is ``Iraq: In the Eye of the Storm.''

Bush affirmed his support for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week as more photos were published showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners. ``You are doing a superb job,'' Bush told Rumsfeld at a news conference last Monday at the Pentagon. On Thursday, Rumsfeld made a surprise trip to Iraq to visit U.S. troops.

As gun battles raged in Fallujah, a majority Sunni Muslim city, and Najaf, a Shiite holy city, the military death toll has escalated. In April, 145 coalition soldiers were killed, and 48 died in the first 17 days of May. Altogether, 895 allied personnel have been killed since the war began more than a year ago, according to coalition figures.

`Repeating History'

Ferguson, 40, a professor of history at New York University and author of the book ``Colossus: The Price of American Empire,'' said the U.S. hasn't understood that it is an imperial power, inheriting a role once played by the British. In 1920, British forces quelled a similar revolt in Iraq -- and remained in the country for another 35 years.

``We have the spectacle of a great English-speaking power occupying Iraq and more or less repeating history, precisely because it neglected to pay attention to it before,'' said Ferguson, who is also a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in Palo Alto, California.

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<http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000176&sid=au0VzUaBd3kk&refer=us_elections>

[truthisfreedom]

1. those who do not study history (or anything else) are doomed to repeat it.

but try telling the administration.

[EnfantTerrible]

2. shrub says:

"books? i herd of em. even read one called "the little goat"... liked it so much i jist had to finish reading it to all them kids i won't leave behind... it says nothin' 'bout history though. you know it?... see there's this goat..."

:nuke:

[Inland]

3. Bush ignores HIS OWN errors, never mind the Brits.

Things going badly? So?

[Moderator]

4. Old news.

Sorry.