This is a sampling of what I've heard/read in the last year about our planning for post Saddam Iraq:

- An interview with a soldier deployed to Iraq back in the beginning. I don't remember the specific terms used, you probably could fill in some of the blanks, but his group was handed some type of book describing the mission in Iraq. The last page, describing the mission after the Saddam govt was toppled, just said "TBD" under the heading. When the soldiers asked for further info about that page, they were ordered to stop asking those questions.

- Testimony of the ex-generals several months ago. In pre-war Pentagon meetings, rumsfeld refused to discuss planning for post Saddam Iraq. Generals who tried to bring up the topic were admonished.

I think offering victory plans for this situation is fruitless with the current power structure. Should bush admit that current policy is a failure, and that they are looking for alternatives, would be one thing. But I've yet to hear any ex-administration staffers said that they were successful in bringing alternative ideas to the decider.

As far as Iraq, he appears to make decisions based solely on feedback from rummy, cheney.

>SNIP
>>Just unwise and grievously deficient in the skills required by his office.
>
>I think most of the world now agrees with you on that!