Mind-Bogglingly Off The Mark. TPM: "The people who planned and advocated for this war hadn't the slightest idea what they were getting into. All the plans, all the assumptions, all the notions of what would flow from this came from that basic inability to grasp the reality of what they were entering into. ... It was an intelligence failure even more difficult to grasp than the fiasco over WMD -- and in this case it stemmed entirely from administration political appointees in the face of unanimous contrary advice from everywhere else in government. They've never copped to that misunderstanding, even to themselves. That team can't save the situation."

And: "Gloom ... has been building over Iraq. Increasingly, the Wise Heads are forecasting disaster. ... There seems to be no real 'if', just when, and how badly it will hurt US interests." ... Also: It's Condi Rice Week in DC. ... "We Told You So."