It is very disheartening that a key component of the Powell doctrine was utterly ignored by Rumsfeld. While serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Bush I, Powell advocated that the U.S. military should never be committted unless there was the use of overwhelming force. Powell learned this lesson in Vietnam and so have many others of our senior Army leadership. Why Rumsfeld ignored this advice and instead relied on his own "expectactions" is just flabbergasting to me. Why Gen. Myers permitted it is equally flabberrgasting. And I'm sure Sec. of State Powell had at least of modicum of input into the "plan". He must have left his spine at the door.

We learned this lesson once and now we're learning it again. The doublespeak and spin coming out of the Pentagon concerning this makes me want to throw things at the TV. I used to have a lot of respect for Rumsfeld. I felt he was on the right track in trying to transform the military. But with this fiasco it seems he is just a bully who gets his way. And now American men and women (and Iraqis) are dying needlessly because Rummie had to prove a point.

Kervo