Iraq

This NYTimes article is titled "Chaos Overran Iraq Plan in '06, Bush Team Says".

It's peppered with sayings like

He ended the year closeted with his war cabinet on his ranch trying to devise a new strategy, because the existing one had collapsed.

and

as optimism collided with reality,

or

The Bush administration was jolted on Feb. 22 when Al Qaeda blew up the Askariya Mosque in Samarra,

I'm not sure what exactly a person can "expect" in wartime. I expect chaos. I expect re-planning the original plan constantly. I expect surprise attacks. I expect in a situation like this where two countries are trying to work together but where both have different strengths, ways of thought, histories etc that it would be tricky.

I would never expect that "the plan" for 2006 would go just right and never re-thought. I suspect that the NYTimes must think the US Govt runs everything just right and hence if the results aren't smooth, then it must be because of lack of planning.

I suspect that that premise is wrong.