There have been two major schools of thought on the psyche of Bush and his Administration as a whole. One said that they're clueless and deluded, while the other contended that they've been well aware of the realities, it's just that they're equally well aware of the need to lie about it in order for the public to hew to their will.

Personally, I don't think these two schools are incompatible but I know how boring that is.

Some newly declassified documents show that, according to Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive, prewar planners were "delusional" about what would occur in Iraq after an invasion.

Among their predictions:

  • commanders predicted that after the fighting was over there would be a two- to three-month "stabilisation" phase, followed by an 18- to 24-month "recovery" stage.
  • the US military projected a stable, pro-US and democratic Iraq by that time.
  • US forces would be almost completely "re-deployed" out of Iraq at the end of the "transition" phase - within 45 months of invasion.
  • only 5,000 US troops would remain in Iraq by December 2006


And most of these people are clearly building their way toward an invasion of Iran? Please...