The squandered victory camp vindicated

I said well before the first boots ever crossed into Iraq from Kuwait that the hardest part of the war would be stabilizing that country; and I predicted that it would probably dissolve into civil war. In a sick way, and I'm rather embarrassed now to admit it, I argued that Hussein was a source of stability.

Now comes a book called "Squandered victory" explaining exactly why and how Bush screwed things up.

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When Mr. Diamond returned to the United States in April 2004, he says, he wrote his old friend Ms. Rice a long, confidential memo, recommending that America "disavow any long-term military aspirations in Iraq," establish a target date for the withdrawal of our forces, respond to concerns about Iraqi detainees, proceed vigorously with a plan to disarm and reintegrate Iraqi militias and send "significantly more troops and equipment."

The memo concluded: "If we do not develop soon a coherent counter-insurgency plan combining political and military, Iraqi and international initiatives, we will creep closer and closer to that tipping point, beyond which so many Iraqis sympathize with or join the insurgency that we cannot prevail at any bearable price."

He says he never heard back from Ms. Rice or her principal assistant for Iraq, Robert Blackwill.

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I'm thinking Rice might be up for asshole of the week pretty soon...although Donald Rusmfeld looms large on the asshole radar.