I can't hear you Ican'thearyouicanthearyou!

I guess that was Rumsfeld's view of the long haul in Iraq: he forbade anyone to make plans for the occupation/transition phase under threat of firing. Amazing. Kevin Drum captures the situation pithily:

So: the lack of postwar planning wasn't merely the result of incompetence. It was deliberate policy. There was never any intention of rebuilding Iraq and there was never any intention of wasting time on democracy promotion.

I wish I could say I found this amazing, but I've pretty well taken in that these guys place a powerful sales pitch above even the most abstract back-up plan. It just makes me want to bite somebody...

(via Medley)