As I stated earlier Time had an article on the Rumsfield/Brass Discussions and it clearly stated that Rumsfield wanted a far smaller force and the military the equivalent of GW1. It doesn't take a genius to see the military was being conservative. Iraq's military is not anywhere near as strong as it was in was in GW1 and our technology has advanced greatly. Actual events indicate Rumsfield and his civilian advisors were overly optimistic. Fortunately Rumsfield did listen to his generals and greatly increased the forces deployed. They also listened to him and challenged old ways of doing things. You continue to ignore the comments about Turkey throwing a kink in the plans, the fact that those troups are still on the way, and that Bush checked off with the generals before the start.

I feel your concerns about the plan are valid, but your accusations are not. It is quite likely a different plan would have worked better, but hindsight is always 20/20. This war has been a success by comparison to the results of past wars and that is being overlooked by all the critics.

Regards,
Mark