Hubris

The above is the title of my latest read, by Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and David Corn of The Nation. It is nothing you didn't know in general, but to see the particulars laid out with the evidence is shocking and infuriating. One passage of note (p. 197), about post-war planning, where the White House completely disregarded a key report, is particularly maddening. The report as quoted by the book's authors noted that

`ethnic, tribal and religious schisms could produce civil war or fracture the state after Saddam is deposed,' that Iraq reconstruction would `require a considerable commitment of American resources.' and that `the longer U.S. presence is maintained, the more likely violent resistance will develop.' An occupation, the report said, would last for `an extended period of time' and the Iraqi population would be more suspicious of than grateful toward the United States. The study noted that the most likely development would be for political parties to emerge based on ethnic, tribal and religious identities, and free elections among ethnically based political parties could actually `increase divisions rather than mitigate them.' And worse, armed militias would likely be a problem. terrorists could be expected to engage in horrific acts, even suicide bombings, to alienate Iraqis from Americans.

The source of such wild-eyed radical nonsense? The U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute.