Raw Story: 'Breaking a country': Analyst claims Trump's tactics are straight out of Iraq [View all]

[Dennis Donovan]

Raw Story - ‘Breaking a country’: Analyst claims Trump’s tactics are straight out of Iraq

Adam Nichols
February 4, 2025 7:56AM ET

President Donald Trump's whirlwind first few days in office have hit America with a “shock and awe” campaign that has startling similarities to George W. Bush’s policies in Iraq, a New York Times columnist wrote Tuesday.

After vastly dismantling the nation’s government, Bush put in place “right-wing apparatchiks, some barely out of college” — and left the nation a destabilized mess, wrote Michelle Goldberg.

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“The first days of the second Trump term have a distinct Coalition Provisional Authority vibe,” her article stated.

“For those lucky enough not to remember, the Coalition Provisional Authority was the administration that George W. Bush and his team put in place after charging heedlessly into Iraq, convinced that it would be easy to remake a government about which they knew next to nothing.

“It was full of right-wing apparatchiks, some barely out of college, who were given enormous responsibilities. Six people initially hired for low-level administrative jobs after sending their résumés to the conservative Heritage Foundation were assigned to manage Iraq’s $13 billion budget. A social worker who’d served as director at a Christian charity was put in charge of rebuilding the health care system.

/snip