I was thinking, and there is a pretty simple explanation for the unmitigated hubris and, well,
stupidity of the neocons in all this.
They never in a million years expected the war to go this badly.
They figured, as Big Time "Mission Accomplished" war heroes, no one would question how they got there. And they were essentially right - if the war had gone as smoothly as the first Gulf War, there would have been no examination of what brought us there. No finger pointing, no investigations, no indictments. None.
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They figured it would be
easier than Poppy's war. They saw
zero possibility of failure. So they allowed themselves to go deeper and deeper into criminal territory. What's a forged document or two or three or a hundred when you're about to win a war and free the peoples of Iraq? So you out a few CIA agents along the way, fire a dozen or so competent but ethical intelligence gurus and Pentagon generals, compromise national security, lie your ass off. Nobody cares! You got an easy war to win baby! And hey - there's
money to be made! LOTS of it.
Their greed, their wont of money, their complete willingness to extract enormous amounts of lucre from the taxpayers and dole it out to their corporate cronies in the military complex, led to an undermanned, ill-equipped army, and the defeat of the United States by Iraq.
This is why they are floundering. They are GUILTY and boy do they know it. They figured it would never ever in a million years come back at them. So they did whatever they wanted, no matter how criminal. They went crazy with it. And now...
As Earle says, karma's a bitch.