Elusive Victories_ The American Presidency at War-Oxford University Press (2012)

272 e lusive v ictories historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.  Excesses there were, including domestic espionage against politi ...

273  presidents sometimes find wars forced upon them, whether by cir- cumstances or their own commitments. Lincoln inherited a ...

274 e lusive v ictories implicit in Bush’s goal of establishing a liberal, democratic Iraq, the military requirements for a succ ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 275 and extensive diplomacy, the Bush administration also assembled a broad multinational coalition an ...

276 e lusive v ictories Baghdad that the United States had little taste for casualties and was unprepared to pay the price for t ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 277 region, especially to Israel, and as a criminal who had used WMD on his own people. Infl uential “ ...

278 e lusive v ictories sheltered not by Saddam Hussein but by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Th e pr ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 279 It took little time for the administration to identify another target. Eyes turned again to Iraq. ...

280 e lusive v ictories had closer ties to known terrorist networks than did Iraq. Even allowing for the heightened sensitivity ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 281 president’s own professed shoot-from-the-hip, instinctive leadership style.  But the following m ...

282 e lusive v ictories reason to doubt reports of contact between Saddam’s government and al-Qaeda operatives or other known te ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 283 He and other offi cials made clear over the following weeks that Iraq fi t the criteria, with the ...

284 e lusive v ictories International audiences, as suggested, proved much less receptive to Bush administration arguments. Apar ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 285 his tenure. Much the same pattern characterized Donald Rumsfeld’s management of the Defense Depart ...

286 e lusive v ictories defense deluged the Pentagon with his “snowfl akes,” memos demanding explanations or justification for a ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 287 targeted air power.  Rumsfeld went so far as to entertain the possibility of mounting the invasi ...

288 e lusive v ictories The defense secretary conceded on some points, and the officers most directly involved in commanding the ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 289 peacekeeping in Bosnia and Kosovo as a mistake. Apart from misusing U.S. military resources, Rumsf ...

290 e lusive v ictories Extrapolating from the Balkans examples, some 300,000 to 400,000 troops would be needed in Iraq, a numbe ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 291 usable plan in fall 2002, concern mounted among senior military offi cers at all levels.  Eventu ...