Dummy Rummy: A Menace to Iraq, A Menace to America

In September, the Washington Monthly was one of several media outlets that published the interview of Brigadier General Mark Scheid, chief of the Logistics War Plans Division, who asserted that the planners try: (excerpt of article follows)

""to write what was called Phase 4," or the piece of the plan that included post-invasion operations like occupation.

Even if the troops didn't stay, "at least we have to plan for it," Scheid said.

"I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today.

"He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."

...."In his own mind he thought we could go in and fight and take out the regime and come out. But a lot of us planners were having a real hard time with it because we were also thinking we can't do this. Once you tear up a country you have to stay and rebuild it. It was very challenging." (end of excerpt)

Yet people do NOT know that the State Department had as far back as in October 2001 begun PLANNING FOR THE TRANSITION OF A REMOVAL FROM POWER OF SADDAM HUSSEIN AND THE ORDERLY TRANSITION OF THE COUNTRY. The 1,200 report was completed in October 2001, but of course rejected by Dummy who thinks that he's smarter than everything and everyone.

Russ Kick of the Memory Hole notes that:

Dozens of Iraqi exiles and international experts were brought together to figure out how to create a new Iraq should Saddam Hussein somehow be taken out of power.

Within the project, seventeen working groups covered such areas as the justice system, local government, agriculture, media, education, and oil. The various working groups began meeting in July 2002 and continued through March/April 2003. Twelve of the groups released reports. The project cost $5 million.

The project's observations and recommendations were almost wholly ignored by the administration during its pre-war planning for the occupation.

This is the summary of the report. pdf

The rest of the report may be found here.

Thanks to Russ Kick for filing the FOIA request and posting the info online, and for demonstrating yet again the complete disgrace and disgust that should be directed towards the highest members of this criminal administration.