This Has To Hurt

Its long overdue, but welcome none the less. Now I never agreed with the decision to invade Iraq. I want that clear, but Powell probably saw it as inevitable and tried to do what he could as a military man to increase the odds it would suceed.

Just back from Baghdad and eager to discuss promising developments, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found herself knocked off message Sunday, forced to defend prewar planning and troop levels against an unlikely critic — Colin Powell, her predecessor at the State Department.

For the Bush administration, it was a rare instance of in-house dissenter going public.

...

In January, Pentagon officials acknowledged that Paul Bremer, the senior U.S. official in Iraq during the first year of the war, told Rumsfeld in May 2004 that a far larger number of U.S. troops were needed to effectively fight the insurgency, but his advice was rejected.

Bremer said his memo to Rumsfeld suggested half a million troops were needed — more than three times the number there at the time

And, in defending the planning, Rice came out with this preposterous lie.

"When the war plan was put together, it was put together, also, with consideration of what would happen after Saddam Hussein was actually overthrown," Rice said.

Or, if they really did feel they had an adequate plan for what would happen, they are admitting they are complete incompetents. Your choice. They are incompetent or liars. My vote is for both.