Lynn C. Woolsey: “one of the most grievous blunders in the whole Iraq debacle was the total failure to figure out what we would do after…”

“one of the most grievous blunders in the whole Iraq debacle was the total failure to figure out what we would do after toppling Saddam Hussein. The architects of this war thought that was the whole task. Mission accomplished. There was no plan for how to manage the aftermath. No plan for keeping the peace in a country with deep sectarian divisions, no plan for how to institute democracy in a society with no democratic infrastructure or institutions. Well, now we see history repeating itself, because The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Bush administration and top military commanders apparently have no idea what the next step is if the troop escalation plan fails, which General Petraeus himself believes probably will. The Post reports that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace, told a meeting of the Nation's Governors: ``I'm a Marine, and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory.'' Well, confidence is one thing. Single mindedness is another, and, frankly, if the Bush national security team had a better track record of smart decisions and strategic successes, I might be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. But as it turns out, these folks have been wrong, very wrong, throughout most of this occupation.”