6 years ago: Worst-case scenarios

The invasion of Iraq was planned for and conducted with Plan A and only Plan A in place. That plan involved a military “cakewalk” with American forces being “greeted as liberators,” followed shortly thereafter by the flowering of a pro-America, pro-Israel democracy, funded by privatized/westernized oil revenues that would limit American expenditures for reconstruction and nation-building to $1.7 billion.

This sounds like mocking exaggeration, but it is not. That was precisely the plan. The phrases “cakewalk” and “greeted as liberators” were actually spoken, and $1.7 billion was the precise figure cited by the Bush administration. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that America’s military involvement, “Could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.” That was Plan A and there was no Plan B. Plan B could not be allowed, because even to think of it was to hope against, and somehow even to bring about, the failure of Plan A.