quote:
Among the monograph's litany of described failures, this one stands out:"One person the CPA (coalition authority - i.e., Bremer) could never meet with was the Ayatollah Sistani. Prior to the war, Sistani was a senior Iraqi Shi'a cleric but no one understood his importance. By the time the CPA realized he was the most respected Iraqi Shi'a cleric, it was too late to influence him positively."
Despite planning the Iraq war openly for over a year - and covertly for far longer - the Administration had failed to identify one of the most critical influence leaders in the country.
(original italics--the bold stands in for babble's inability to handle nested quotes.)
--they didn't even know who the players were going in. No wonder they got smoked.