Rumsfeld "forbade" post war planning.

[kpete]

Rumsfeld "forbade" post war planning.

Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.

In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a post-war plan.

According to this, Rumsfeld's plan was to get in and get out quickly "because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war." That's why there was no postwar planning.

more at:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-21075sy0sep08,0,2264542.story?coll=dp-widget-news
http://bornatthecrestoftheempire.blogspot.com/2006/09/rumsfeld-forbade-post-war-planning.html

[dogday]

1. Rumsfield forbade any freaking planning at all

except go into Iraq and kill.. That was his plan....

[Greyhound]

7. ...and secure the oil fields. Don't forget that that was mission number 1.

They are criminals of the worst sort, and if we let them get away with it, so are we.

If there is no punishment for the horror we have inflicted, we will pay the price for generations.

[dogday]

8. Yes, that is so true

Get the oil at all costs....

[blm]

2. They LIED to Senators. Almost to a man the Senate said post war planning

was crucial for any support for military action. They even lied to GOP senators.

[Hissyspit]

3. No post-war planning WAS the plan. n/t

[grytpype]

11. Oh, shut up.

This "chaos was the plan" BS is about as bad as MIHOP.

The chaos is their worst nightmare. Yes, they are taking as much advantage of the chaos as possible, but they always take advantage of whatever happens.

The plan was to make a safe, secure US-friendly Iraq. They insanely overestimated the chances of that happening and underestimated the resources (troops, etc.) it would take to make it happen. They had to, because under any realistic estimate, the invasion was obviously ridiculous. That's what lead to the chaos. And they're soiling themselves over this, they aren't happy.

[Nikki Stone 1]

13. I'm not so sure they were that arrogant and stupid. I often wonder if

the chaos is serving somebody. It made me think of Vietnam, another pit of chaos, where the goal didn't seem to be about winning but about keeping the area in chaos until something was set in place. I remember reading an opinion piece in the 80s by a military officer in the WaPo claiming that Vietnam was really about securing Singapore and Malaysia for capitalism under the old idea of the domino theory. I don't know that I buy it, but sometimes I wonder what the whole point was.

Of course, our leadership then and now could be that arrogant and that stupid. And I suppose that is the more likely explanation. But I can't help wondering sometimes.

[gratuitous]

16. They aren't happy?

By "they" I presume you mean the Bush administration. I will concede that the chaos is bad, and that the administration didn't necessarily mean for chaos to ensue. But I have yet to see any indication from anyone inside the Bush administration that this causes them even a moment's pause to reflect and reconsider their actions. They keep right on the same path guaranteed to produce more chaos and more death, and cost a lot more money. Now, maybe they're not clicking their heels in sorrowful dance of delirious joy, but I see no reason to say that anyone in the Bush administration is not happy about the continuing quagmire in Iraq.

If they weren't at least satisfied with what's going on, wouldn't they do something different? Instead, they continue to drain the Treasury, bleed the military white, and refuse to consider any other course or consult with anyone not "inside." Happy? I don't know. Content? It sure looks like it.

[Hissyspit]

19. Not having a plan is, in essence, a plan. I didn't say it was intelligent.

Or logical. Or that they are where they want to be.

No, you shut up.

[Avalux]

4. Shock and Awe!!!!

He just wanted to blow shit up and didn't give a shit about what happened next. Amazing.

[grytpype]

5. Right, any realistic postwar plan would have us in there for 20 years.

By necessity, not by choice.

This was supposed to be a banana republic coup -- just march into the capital, bump off El Presidente and install New El Presidente.

BCR had no freaking idea what they were getting the country into.

[JHB]

15. We have a winnah!

They wanted to hop in, install Chalabi or a similar crony as Maximum Leader, and get our main forces out.

In other words, a successful version of what Poppy tried in '91 when he called for an uprising against Saddam (but didn't mention he meant "of the Iraqi military", not "of the Iraqi people"). He was fishing for a coup, to replace Saddam with someone just like him, but without the bad press. (Recall still further that right up until the Kuwait invasion, Iraq was **the** place to do business in the Gulf.)

[warrens]

6. He and Wolfie called post-war planners "defeatists"

They are clearly insane and/or very, very stupid.

[Imagevision]

9. It's apparent Rumsfeld never intended to leave Iraq, leaving a US.

presence to remain indefinitly, similar to germaany, japan, Korea etc... except Rummy didn't figure on the "insurgents" not willing to give up the oil and tolerating the US. as occupiers... henceforth, there never was a need to have an exit strategy...

[Imagevision]

10. Dummy Rummy actually expected Iraq war not to go beyond 6 months!!

[bobthedrummer]

12. Traitors, war criminals and war profiteers-the real fascists used our

military for their own agenda.

Rumsfeld et al may see a different version of a revolution in military affairs.

[grytpype]

14. This is the next big story to hit the fan.

This is incredibly huge. It might mean the end of Rumsfeld for real this time.

The Dems better get on this right now.

[InkAddict]

17. Give up some; get some

The House of Saud wanted our bases out of their country; US then ran to our grandiose theories of eminent domain to grab land within another sovereign nation for that new strategic presence with a ready resource (oil). Everything else has been just collateral damage and distraction portrayed as this endless "war on terror" to a) instill the fear that would gain consensus; b) control the events that would circularly maintain the fear. It's been the biggest, most all encompassing BLACK-OP operation in the history of our nation. It's quite obvious that there's been a coordinated effort at covering up incompetencies, irresponsible self-gratifications, corruption schemes, consensus for shadow government, ad nauseum. Democracy dies in the face of the secrets, cowardly lies, and corporate lusts for power and wealth at that high-level of federal and global leadership; society dies more slowly beneath that type of tyranny and the price any individual pays will eventually bankrupt the social, financial, and cultural fabric of our nation.

What I'm seeing is a refusal to let the "ME" generational attitude go; what's being touted as it's replacement is an "US AGAINST THEM" mentality that will surely also fail for almost everyone long-term since we all need each other's efforts. Why else would be feel diminished by the passing of an educated showman like the CROC-hunter whose antics did do a lot to promote a healthier prospective of our environment. Safety-nets need to be in place that promote healthy participation in a government "by the people and for the people," one that promotes the goodness and generosity, else that which we love will pass into the winds of history with the speed of a whirlwind.

[ananda]

18. Just another symptom of insanity.

Bush and Rummy, also Cheney and Condi,
are totally insane,

yet they manage to look the look and just
keep on talking.

It's hard to see insanity when it's couched in
a conservative look and frame.

To me, though, it's so obvious... because I pay
attention to the deeds and the code in the speech,
not the look or the frame.

[indepat]

20. Is post-war planning needed when the only plan is for perpetual war: Rummy

deserves a break on this one for criss-sakes.

[Hubert Flottz]

21. The man was a fool then and he's still a fool.

And Bush is a bigger fool for covering Rummy's ass!