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Pentagon prepares for failure in Iraq

George Bush speaks of the "surge" in Iraq, PM's Blair and Howard are all the way with the US President, whatever the consequences - yet, if this report in Salon [reproduced on Mother Jones] is correct, within the bowels of the Pentagon, work is underway on how to deal with failure in Iraq.

"Deep within the bowels of the Pentagon, policy planners are conducting secret meetings to discuss what to do in the worst-case scenario in Iraq about a year from today if and when President Bush's escalation of more than 20,000 troops fails, a participant in those discussions told me. None of those who are taking part in these exercises, shielded from the public view and the immediate scrutiny of the White House, believes that the so-called surge will succeed. On the contrary, everyone thinks it will not only fail to achieve its aims but also accelerate instability by providing a glaring example of U.S. incapacity and incompetence."

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