NYT: A Prewar Slide Show Cast Iraq in Rosy Hues

[kskiska]

When Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his top officers gathered in August 2002 to review an invasion plan for Iraq, it reflected a decidedly upbeat vision of what the country would look like four years after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.

A broadly representative Iraqi government would be in place. The Iraqi Army would be working to keep the peace. And the United States would have as few as 5,000 troops in the country.

Military planning slides obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act outline the command’s video projection of the stable, pro-American and democratic Iraq that was to be.

The general optimism and some details of General Franks’ planning session have been disclosed in the copious postwar literature. But the once classified slides provide a firsthand look at how far the violent reality of Iraq today has deviated from assumptions that once laid the basis for an exercise in pre-emptive war.

The archive, an independent research institute at George Washington University, has posted the slides on its Web site, www.nsarchive.org.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/washington/15military.html?hp&ex=1171515600&en=9b0770703f6da0ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Up2Late]

1. "And the United States would have as few as 5,000 troops in the country...."

Good LORD! What where they SMOKING! Because I want some of that junk.:banghead: :hippie:

[tabasco]

2. Tommy Franks, the same guy that left Al Qaa Qaa ammo dump unsecured.

Handed over tons of high grade explosives to the insurgents. Franks knew about the ammo dump before the invasion but failed to give orders to secure it. Complete incompetence. Naturally, a loyal Bush man. Franks is an idiot and a disgrace to the uniform. He should be court-martialed for dereliction of duty, retroactively.

[calimary]

6. Another significant move on his part - notice how he skeedaddled

the hell outta there as soon as the clock struck midnight on his tour of duty. Schmuck got the hell outta Dodge at the first split-second. And appeared to have gone almost into hiding. When Norman Schwarzkopf concluded Desert Storm, he stayed in the public eye, lots of postmortems and interviews and appearances. tommy franks ran for cover as soon as the gettin' was good. Except to resurface long enough to get one of those swell presidential medals along with two other worthless, duplicitous vermin: paul bremmer and george "slam dunk" tenet.

Yeah, franks. You've got to do more to prove your manhood than just offer yourself as a cover boy for "Cigar Afficionado" magazine.

[tabasco]

9. Franks knew the battle had not even started and he hauled ass.

Franks is a stupid moran, but he obviously has some skills to get to 4-star. Nobody can tell me he didn't know the occupation phase would be a bloody quagmire. Nobody with any kind of military education could believe the rosy scenarios. Franks led his troops (from the rear, of course), unopposed, seized the Baghdad Airport, declared victory, and hauled ass. Disgraceful. He could have stayed at CentCom as long as Shrub approved. But Franks was in a big hurry planning the victory parade in NYC, so he didn't have time to bother with details like unsecured ammo dumps.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

3. Very kicking, very recommending, the amazingly lame PowerPoint by Franks et. al.

:crazy: MKJ

[rodeodance]

8. and now he is raking in speaking fees and book royalites. AH life in the US

is rosy for some!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bigmack]

4. Anybody in business or education....

can tell you those flashy powerpoint presentations are just "looksee pidgin" to amuse the administrators.

Actually, any decent organization always has people who ask "What happens if the rosy scenario doesn't work out?"

Dumbya, Rove, and Cheney don't like questioners.

Hence the clusterfuck.

[Up2Late]

5. If you haven't done so yet, Check out the Power Point Slides that they showed Bush in Summer 2002!

What should be the REALLY the headline here is what's written on the title slide of this Power Point "slide show" because, remember how our so-called pResident, and "Vice-President" and everyone else in the Bush Cabal kept insisting that they were not planning for a war with Iraq until about October 2002, and how that guy who said you "...you don't roll-out an advertising campaign before Labor Day?

Well, SLIDE ONE (1) of this "slide show" says

Compartmented Planning Effort,

15 AUGUST 2002!!!!

Here's the link: <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/Tab%20I.pdf>

AND if you want Truly Delusional, check out Slide FOUR (4): <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/Tab%20I%20-%20page%204.pdf>

Here the full report: <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/index.htm>

And while your at it, you might want to check out this one too.

It's a 1999 CENTCOM report, led by Marine General Anthony Zinni (ret.) on a War Game Simulation that said

400,000 Troops and Democracy would be IMPOSSIBLE IN IRAQ!!!

Here's the link: <http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB207/index.htm>

[calimary]

12. Amazing. Good find! Thanks for posting!

I'm bookmarking this.

:thumbsup:

[Doondoo]

7. OMFG!.......K&R!!

[Straight Shooter]

10. Kick for the morning crowd. A must-read.

It should be called a "PowerPointless" slide show:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/index.htm

Slide titled Phase IV Notional Ground Force Composition.



Does that mean it was their "notion" it would be this many, or did someone misspell "National"? :shrug:

Excerpt from the gwu.edu link:

Lt. Gen. McKiernan later told Washington Post reporter Thomas Ricks (Fiasco, p. 75):

"It's quite frustrating the way this works, but the way we do things nowadays is combatant commanders brief their products in PowerPoint up in Washington to OSD and Secretary of Defense... In lieu of an order, or a frag order, or plan, you get a set of PowerPoint slides... hat is frustrating, because nobody wants to plan against PowerPoint slides."

Retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich told Ricks (Fiasco, pp. 75-76) that PowerPoint war planning was the ultimate insult:

"Here may be the clearest manifestation of OSD's contempt for the accumulated wisdom of the military profession and of the assumption among forward thinkers that technology -- above all information technology -- has rendered obsolete the conventions traditionally governing the preparation and conduct of war. To imagine that PowerPoint slides can substitute for such means is really the height of recklessness."

[Up2Late]

11. Kick! This is also on the DU Homepage, but from a BBC News article

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2732263>

:kick: