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

292 e lusive v ictories military than they had from other agencies. One celebrated episode illustrated the mind-set at the top o ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 293 with terrorists and reshaping the Iraqi military, which lay beyond the capacity of his small team. ...

294 e lusive v ictories situation did not necessitate an ongoing massive American military presence. It would certainly cost far ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 295 understood that the United States was his most important adversary, he would see it as in his inte ...

296 e lusive v ictories stomach for casualties and would either avoid such a contest or quit when their losses mounted, letting ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 297 the victorious American soldiers and Marines occupied key points in the city. Too few U.S. troops ...

298 e lusive v ictories Th e unraveling of the WMD story, though, would come later. For the moment, the administration reveled i ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 299 reconciled to defeat. Meanwhile, sporadic clashes erupted between U.S. troops and Iraqis protestin ...

300 e lusive v ictories of the postwar security plan. With so few troops on hand, American commanders had only two alternative s ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 301 Iraqis, to help prepare for the return of Iraqi sovereignty, and he announced (again without appro ...

302 e lusive v ictories often clashed with Bremer.  But when a key commander falters, the responsibility for correcting his a ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 303 occupied by a Western power.  Th e Iraqi population quickly became much cooler toward their ers ...

304 e lusive v ictories Shiite leaders who evinced little interest in national reconciliation. After the voting, the violence sp ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 305 from what happened in Iraq.  Amid the escalating violence, Rumsfeld said repeatedly (in his fav ...

306 e lusive v ictories initial invasion planning had been fl awed. He preferred to emphasize the occasional good news, such as ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 307 prime minister really had nothing more to off er than declarations of will. Bush, with exponential ...

308 e lusive v ictories human and the other monetary. Th e Bush administration shunned both, however, by rejecting either a majo ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 309 increase the active-duty force. Even so, the limited size of the military continued to place heavy ...

310 e lusive v ictories the start, Democrats soon turned against the war. To Bush’s political good fortune, overall public disen ...

t he p erils of o ptimism 311 arguments echoed ones heard a generation earlier when dominoes seemed destined to fall across Sout ...