As we commemorate the passing of five years since George Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” stunt on the U.S.S Abraham Lincoln, new information has come to light that shows just how convinced the administration was at that time that the war in Iraq was over. Originally, the Pentagon had prepared a post-combat Phase IV plan for the occupation and rebuilding of Iraq. Somewhere along the way this plan was shelved, and all the generals and military staff in Iraq assigned to its implementation were called back home. It was clearly understood among the commanders in the field that this decision to ignore Phase IV came with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s approval, and therefore with the full knowledge of the National Security Council, Vice President, and President.

But once it was clear that Phase IV was essential due to the unexpected success of the insurgency, Rumsfeld tried everything he could to shift blame away from himself and the administration. He expressed shock to his generals in the field that “no one had told him” that Phase IV had been rescinded. He then put in writing his assertions that he was completely unaware of such a critical decision, even though his written approval to order the Phase IV staff back to Kuwait existed in multiple copies. He blamed his generals for this disastrous decision, withheld promised promotions, and tried to bribe them with offers of sinecures in the Pentagon if they kept their silence. A thorough report establishing Rumsfeld’s fault was written by a Pentagon audit commission, but Rumsfeld impounded all copies of the report and kept the information in it secret.

Allegations regarding this matter have been made by one of the men closest to the battlefield consequences of this decision: Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former head of Coalition Forces in 2004. Sanchez reports his accusations in a new book titled Wiser in Battle.. Critical excerpts from the book are now to be published in the upcoming issue of Time magazine at this url: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1736831-1,00.html.

Sanchez’s conclusions are as follows:

It turned out that the investigative team [Pentagon audit commission] was so thorough, they had actually gone back and looked at the original operational concept that had been prepared by CENTCOM (led by Gen. Franks) before the invasion of Iraq was launched. It was standard procedure to present such a plan, which included such things as: timing for predeployment, deployment, staging for major combat operations, and postdeployment. The concept was briefed up to the highest levels of the U.S. government, including the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the President of the United States.
And the investigators were now telling me that the plan called for a Phase IV (after combat action) operation that would last twelve to eighteen months.

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I had never seen any approved CENTCOM campaign plan, either conceptual or detailed, for the post-major combat operations phase. When I was on the ground in Iraq and saw what was going on, I assumed they had done zero Phase IV planning. Now, three years later, I was learning for the first time that my assumption was not completely accurate. In fact, CENTCOM had originally called for twelve to eighteen months of Phase IV activity with active troop deployments. But then CENTCOM had completely walked away by simply stating that the war was over and Phase IV was not their job.

That decision set up the United States for a failed first year in Iraq. There is no question about it. And I was supposed to believe that neither the Secretary of Defense nor anybody above him knew anything about it? Impossible! Rumsfeld knew about it. Everybody on the NSC knew about it, including Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, and Colin Powell. Vice President Cheney knew about it. And President Bush knew about it.

There's not a doubt in my mind that they all embraced this decision to some degree. And if it had not been for the moral courage of Gen. John Abizaid to stand up to them all and reverse Franks's troop drawdown order, there's no telling how much more damage would have been done.

In the meantime, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty.

That last sentence says it all. Criminal charges need to be filed against all the principals in the Bush administration. These are the very people who postured as the true American patriots, unlike those opposed to the war who were effete haters of America, ever-willing to appease the terrorist enemies of the United States. What Sanchez shows is that as early as 2004, the Bush administration was engaged in changing the historical record and covering up their tracks, while blaming others for the disasters their policies brought about. It was not even beyond them to blame the very military they professed to love and support, though by 2004 any general or admiral with their eyes open could see that these Republicans were only interested in using the military for the greater glory of the Republican Party. The deadly delay in getting decent armor to the troops in Iraq, and the Walter Reed scandal, should have been more than enough evidence that the Republicans had no interest in building up or supporting the military.

Sanchez’ allegations are as blunt and revealing as anything so far to come out of the Iraq War. He’s the first true Pentagon insider to reveal the depth of depravity, mendacity, and recklessness of the top officials at the White House. Perhaps this is why Time magazine is running excerpts from his book – they are too explosive to be ignored by even the most establishment media lackey. Will our politicians pay any notice, or will this be yet another scandalous insight into the Bush administration that will be filed away for the attention of historians only?