Re: "preparing perfectly for the last war and ignoring developments that have happened since"
That's hardly fair. Iraq is firstly several groups that pretty much hate/distrust each other, and while the state departments plans where pretty good, we'll never know how good since on all the points marked "do this, to avoid consequences" where ignored by defense when they took over.
So if you promise the armed forces a place in the new regime, and assure the ba'athists (or whatever group has most recently held the whip hand) that they too will have a place, then back track on those promises, it'll cause a massive ongoing problem.
Not that I'd advocate nation build per sec, but if you're going to do it, at least let the people who have experience with governance have a say.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
