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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (27504)	4/7/2008 11:35:16 AM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 71588

I was referring to the FORMAL war planning draw up by the Pentagon... and the FORMAL US government plan for the occupation of post-war Iraq (said plan a joint effort of the Pentagon and the State Department and CIA's best 'Arabist' and 'Persian' experts... and taking well over three full years to draw up and finalize.) The formal US Government Plan for the Occupation of post-war Iraq was tossed over-board about a month prior to the onset of hostilities (in favor of a very sketchy, almost 'back-of--the-envelope' type of 'plan' put forward by the Neo-Con clique and a few fellow travelers... which called for a MUCH LOWER force level for the occupation.... Basicly this new 'plan' was a bit more of a 'they will strew rose petals in our path and welcome us with open arms' kind of assumption. :-) Remember General Shinsheki (perhaps the one General inn the Pentagon with the most formal training in the study of military occupations) being nudged into early retirement after telling Congress that 'several hundred thousand troops' would be required to do the job right? Remember some of the Neo-Cons testifying that the war would be 'nearly cost-free, self-financed because of the oil exports'... and Bremer's 'we will be welcomed with open arms'? Etc., etc., etc. Strangely enough... as it now turns out, some of the Neo-Cons were actually clear-sighted enough to know what was possibly coming (although they maintained almost exactly the opposite in public.) You should grab a copy of Douglas Feith's latest book (he was Rummie's #1 aide), which just came out, and read the memo he wrote to Rummie in which he speculated about all the things that were possible/likely: massive sectarian conflict, ethnic and religious grudges coming to the surface, resentment of foreign occupying forces sparking a resurgence in al Qaeda and other terrorist forces and giving them a huge propaganda boost throughout the Islamic lands, diversion of our efforts from the fight against terrorism, disaffection of our traditional allies, strengthening Iran's hand, expenses on the order of several hundred Billions, etc., etc., etc. (Turns out... some of these guys actually knew....)