Army Buried Study Faulting Iraq Planning

[cal04]

Source: NYTimes

The Army is accustomed to protecting classified information. But when it comes to the planning for the Iraq war, even an unclassified assessment can acquire the status of a state secret.

That is what happened to a detailed study of the planning for postwar Iraq prepared for the Army by the RAND Corporation, a federally financed center that conducts research for the military.

After 18 months of research, RAND submitted a report in the summer of 2005 called “Rebuilding Iraq.” RAND researchers submitted an unclassified version of the report along with a secret one, hoping that its publication would contribute to the public debate on how to prepare for future conflicts.

But the study’s wide-ranging critique of the White House, the Defense Department and other government agencies was a concern for Army generals, and the Army has sought to keep the report under lock and key.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/washington/11army.html?hp

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[underpants]

2. There was planning?

I thought Rummy told them not to plan because someone might find out about them (as they do) planning for say, 10 years, and well that would make it harder to "sell the war"

:shrug:

also there is the irrefutable mounmental evidence about them not planning. Oh and of every single possible binary decision (like disband the military? YES or NO) they got it wrong.

But then I have been paying attention.

[MadMaddie]

5. When do we prosecute Rummy, Cheney, Condi, * Rove and

Powell?

They should be prosecuted for war crimes - destroying a nation under false pretenses, planning to steal natural resources and contributing to ethnic cleansing.

[cstanleytech]

6. Never.

Not because I dont think they dont deserve their day in court for leading to the death of atleast 3000+ of our soldiers but that the reality is they will in all likelyhood never have to face it.
If the democrats do win they wont do anything for varies reasons mainly because they will be to busy cleaning up after the shrubs mess in Iraq as well as mounting problems with the economy.
If the republicans win they wont authorize an investigation because they protect their own as we have seen these past 7 years under Bush, they protected him multiple times when it came to things like illegal wiretaps, using torture, false WMD information about Iraq, questionible elections and varies other issues.
Thats not to mention Bush can just give a general pardon to each and every member of his staff if he wants to on his last day and then the only one who can be prosecuted would be Bush himself if he is not granted a pardon but since the others in his gang cant be touched there is little that can be done to pressure them.

[gratuitous]

3. Well, I'm sure it's okay

Why do we hoi polloi need to see any of these plans? I mean, it's not like we paid for the report or anything.

[grytpype]

4. Buried at the end of the article: Why was the report suppressed?

A Pentagon official who is familiar with the episode offered a different interpretation: Army officials were concerned that the report would strain relations with a powerful defense secretary and become caught up in the political debate over the war. “The Army leaders who were involved did not want to take the chance of increasing the friction with Secretary Rumsfeld,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because he did not want to alienate senior military officials.

[sellitman]

9. There was no accountability anywheres.

Why should we expect anything more from our Military than we do from their "Leader".

[laststeamtrain]

7. K & R. There just aren't anymore words for how slimy the Bushistas have been.n/t

[jeff30997]

8. K&R

[Supersedeas]

10. will we get more of the same if McCain replaces the Prezeldent

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. K&R

:kick: