Now, as it was then, I found it easy to believe that this was because the Bush administration just didn't care about the Iraqis except as political toys and for getting their hands on the Iraqi oil.

This is the key to understanding their actions/inactions. The only construction that really matters is the 12 "enduring" bases. I believe they think that many of the problems can be fixed after the election when the gloves can come off. For example, they have been bombing Fallujah claiming that they are attacking safe houses, when it is more likely it is a campaign of intimidation. Their soloution to the problem was summarized by Rumsfeld when he said "eventually they will get tired of being killed". After the election, they will be able to really start bombing cities in an attempt to quash the insurgency.

I think its time to stop analyzing "what went wrong", when in some sense nothing has gone wrong. Its time to see this war for what it is, an imperialistic war tosecure our "national interests", which is code for cheap oil. This war at least in principle is perfectly consistent with 50 years of US policy in the Middle East. here are some highlights of that policy. In 1953 overthrow of alegitimate goverment in Iran after the oil industry had been nationalized. The subsequent arming of the shah. After the shah fell the arming of Saddamto prevent the spread of Iranian type government to Iraq which would have threaten our friends in Saudi Arabia. At the same time we arming Iraq, a secret plan to arm Saudi Arabia and construction of infrastructure to support US troops. Ever wounder why we were able to organize for GW1? The military arming of Israel including support of their nuclear weapons program is to make them the dominant military force in the ME thereby keeping other countries in check. One can also see this overall policy in play in South America where the US has worked hard to get rid of Chavez. Look for continued efforts against Chavez now that he has raised tariffs on mulinational oil companies.

So the real discussion has to cut through the nonsense and ask the question do we want our soldiers killed for cheap oil? Do we want to slaughter innocent civilians in other countries to make sure we can keep our SUVs. Becasue in the end this is the question. There is no WOT, there is a war for oil. Put in this context how do you feel about the war?

The American people don't care about any of this.....they don't like arabs anyway. I'll tell you what they are mad about.....they can't get a flu shot. I've heard of some places scalping flu shots for $85.

The President in fact had a rather bold plan that, according to what he told the AEI in February of 2003 prior to the invasion, would possibly bring about a new Palestinian state. Moreover, there would be 55,000 food distribution sites (in a country the size of California) and candy would be handed out to children.

The problem was evident back in 2002, however, when The Heritage Institute provided a research paper on a post-war Iraq. Therein, the invasion, estimated at the time by Army war planners to necessitate 250,000+ troops, would be accomplished by a "decapitation force" envisioned by Rumsfeld. The 100,000 strong force would decapitate the Ba'ath Party leadership and then a 40,000 strong occupation force, a "smaller-scale contingency", would sew things up security wise. There would be "no nation-building" whatsoever.

The prelude to the war saw a bitter feud between the State Dept. and the Pentagon with Rumsfeld getting the upper hand to proceed with what was, essentially, a real-world test of his new theory of force deployment (and a repudiation of The Powell Doctrine). The plan, as described in the Heritage Institute research paper, is unmistakably what was followed. However, the reliance on Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress and the quick mobilization of Iraqi National Forces never materialized. Moreover, when Chalabi's people arrived in Bahgdad in U.S. armored vehicles, the residents were wary and slow to kiss their ring.

This is Rumsfeld's debacle, and it is epic. He is proceeding with the force restructuring that has proven badly ineffective in an actual conflict. The reason you never see pictures of Powell smiling is he lost to Rumsfeld's poker face. It was a stinging rebuke that our armed forces will feel for a long time.

Oh well.