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I have finished reading "Cobra II". It does not paint a favorable picture. However, its omissions are quite apparent.

The Zinni plan, later put forward (not pushed) by Shinsheki was for over 400,000. No mention of post-Iraq appears. No mention of securing the countless WMD sites appear. No mention of sectarian violence and revenge killings appear.

Just 400,000 to overrun Iraq. Why? WMD. How many were they forecasting to die? I don't recall them reporting but I would guess 10-15% or between 40,000-60,000. Then one needs the cemetary troops and logistics to evacuate the wounded and dead. And, they still need the logistics to prosecute the conflict.

Rumsfeld did it with a lot less. And there were the same oversights WRT aftermath as at any previous sanctimonious time. Cobra II points out that Rumsfeld and Franks overlooked the Saddam Fedayeen, who turned out to be the most tenacious fighters (according to the book).

Until we overthrew Baghdad, no one could know how the various factions would react. Many would have thought the regulars would have dispensed with the Foreign fighters.

And of course, Bremer, by disbanding all units and officials did not help matters. If any blemish is to be found on Rumsfeld record, it would be the Bremer authority (imo - I thought Bremer was a Colin Powell plant).

And of course, Bremer, by disbanding all units and officials did not help matters.
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Mostly I agree with you, but not about this.

The Iraqi Army was so politicized that keeping it would have left the Baathists in control of the Army, and they would have been undermining the new democratic government. There would have been no loyalty to it, the Army would be just waiting for the Americans to leave.

Think of the Reichswehr in Germany between the World Wars. Zero loyalty to the Wiemar Republic. Think of the average South American army in the 19th and early-mid 20th centuries. "We are the real country and the politicians are to be put in power and overthrown at our whim."

The results were better in West Germany and Japan after the war. Complete disbandment and a whole new Bundeswehr/Self-Defence Force, which knew it's place in the nation.

Lenin would have been a blip in Russian history if he hadn't abolished the old Imperial Army and started fresh with the Worker's-Peasant's Red Army.