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into battle where there will be casualties,... it is imperative that the President, as Commander in Chief, keep faith with the Country’s military and its citizens. That is done by ensuring that the intelligence on which he relies is the most reliable possible - that it is not skewed to support the policy. The war planning must also be sound, with a viable objective and the number of troops and logistical support necessary to accomplish the job. The standards are high - no less than what you would establish if you were commanding your own kids to lead the charge.
President Bush has failed to meet these standards. First, he, or at his behest, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (“OSD”), pro actively sought intelligence to support the invasion.
Second, the planning for the invasion was equally flawed. I understand that the strategic plan developed for Operation Iraqi Freedom called for four stages with the third stage comprising the conflict against the Iraqi military and the fourth stage being the occupation and pacification. The pre-war planning only fully developed the first three stages. There was a naive belief emanating from OSD that once phase three had concluded, U.S. forces would be welcomed into Baghdad as if it were Paris in 1944. Apparently, the OSD planners believed that the call of freedom would be more compelling than the history, politics, culture and religion of Iraq, all of which were pretty much ignored.
The situation in Iraq has continued to worsen, and we are now embroiled in a war that we are losing because we committed inadequate forces to achieve the objectives. One may take solace, as Bush wants us to, that elections are scheduled for early next year. However, let’s remember that elections were held in Vietnam in 1965 and we were there
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