Haven't we seen this before?

Recent news coming out of Washington showcase that, once again, the current administration didn't pay attention to the full scope of intelligence that it had before itself. Back in 1999, the government conducted a series of secret war games, called "Desert Crossing", to simulate what might happen in Iraq should there be a military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power. The results were fairly astounding, especially given the notion that not enough troops were sent to Iraq in the first place.

Of course, the US has, at peak, placed around 160,000 troops on the ground in Iraq, with a standing force of over 140,000. However, the results of "Desert Crossing" show that a failed Iraq state was likely even if we had sent over 400,000 troops. Obviously, it's not just numbers and bodies. Nevermind that we're quickly closing in on 3,000 deaths since the beginning of this conflict, something that GDub refers to as a "comma in history".

With the recent editorial in the Military Times calling for the resignation of "Gin" Rummy, the President and his press monkey have come out and stood their ground, with Snowjob even saying that "everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts." What Mr. Snow, and much of the GOP, seems to be forgetting, is that this entire conflict has been built on the basis of "facts" only held by GDub and his cronies. "Facts" that were later proven to be reprehensibly incorrect. The war was launched to stop al Qaeda, even though the fact of the matter is that Iraq and the Taliban had no strong connections until after we made our presence known. We were presented with the "fact" of WMDs, and then told that there never were WMDs in Iraq, but that it was simply a made-up justification for the fighting. We were given the "fact" that the mission had been accomplished, while soldiers continued to die and sectarian violence continued to increase.

And now we are presented with this new fact, and the knowledge that the facts and possibilities brought up through the exercise known as "Desert Crossing" were ignored beyond the shadow of a doubt. With an election coming up tomorrow, and "facts" being bounced around by candidates from both parties, is it any wonder that the American people continue to feel more informed through programs such as The Daily Show? After all, at least Jon Stewart admits that he's stretching the truth for humor.