District of Bizarro IV--Potemkin's Village

The BBC, that old reliable, reports the National Security Archives at George Washington University has received PowerPoint(TM) slides prepared by General Tommy Franks, now retired, and other top commanders. The briefing material was prepared in August of 2002, less than a year before the invasion of Iraq in April, 2003. Amazingly, the commanders told the White House that American troops would be substantially out of Iraq in 45 months. Only 5,000 troops would remain in-country by December, 2006. The presentation assumed that a provisional government would be in place on invasion day (no doubt headed by the Pentagon's choice, embezzler Ahmed Chalabi), and that Iraqis would not resist the occupation but would be reliable collaborators. Archive officials labeled the assumptions of the presentation "delusional" and "completely unrealistic".
Interestingly a 1999 war game titled "Dessert Crossing", conducted under CENTCOM Commander General Anthony Zinni, warned that a post-Saddam Iraq could fracture along sectarian lines, and that establishing a truly democratic Iraqi government was not feasible. 400,000 American soldiers were envisioned as necessary for an Iraqi occupation. When he took over CENTCOM from Zinni, General Franks only revised the estimate downward to 385,000 in his initial operations plan. What his briefing demonstrates is the willingness of commanding generals, who achieve their positions through political favor, to please the current occupant of the White House regardless of the practical ramifications of their actions or even their private professional opinions.
Weekend Update: Amid emotionally charged rhetoric and sanctimonious cries of "support the troops" the US House of Representatives voted to steer a course toward reality in Iraq. Seventeen Republicans finally deserted the sinking ship of the regime's Iraq war. How any Congress member can possibly believe that 21,000 more soldiers will somehow pacify a region that our best military minds considered half a million adequate for the task is beyond most Americans. But then, they do not live and work in the hot house political arena that is the District of Bizarro. Representative John Murtha (D) , Chairman of the House Defense Appropriation Subcommittee may do more to protect the troops than any Republican still seeking an American victory in an Iraqi civil war by using the House's appropriating power to put limits on troop levels. House Democrats may have to do this indirectly to protect themselves from political attack but their intent is clear: end American involvement in a failed foreign intervention that has cost us dearly in lives, treasure and prestige. The Senate, supposedly the repository of foreign policy expertise, has been unable to bring a resolution against the escalation to the floor for a substantive vote. When the Republicans were in charge it was called using the "nuclear option" Now that they are in the minority, they have no qualms about using the filibuster to continue the Charlatan's policy of 'stay and die'. Notwithstanding an extraordinary session this weekend, the Senate will remain deadlocked until their hand is forced by the greater majority.