Fallows in Atlantic Monthly

People who are concerned about the US invasion of Iraq should not miss James Fallows' article "Why Iraq Has No Army" in the December issue of the Atlantic Monthly. Along with what Gen. Odom has been saying this is one of very best analyses out there. One gets a bonus in this issue from Nir Rosen, "If America Left Iraq," also well worth pondering.

My only critique of these views, and most other anti-war comment, is the presumption that things have not gone well because of 'mistakes,' or 'poor-planning,' or 'lousy staff-work,' or whatever other reason there may be. Odom probably comes closest to nailing my objections by pointing out that the strategy was flawed from the start, but even he doesn't go far enough.

To my mind it seems eminently reasonable to assume that those really in charge -- not the hamster generals and ambassadors kept at spinning the wheels in their cages -- that is, the gang in charge at the White House, knew perfectly well from the outset how the war was going to go, and preferred it that way. Yes, I think they deliberately set out to obtain a failing, more or less perpetual war against not only Iraq but the Muslim world. Why they did it is the really interesting question.