[Rhodes22-list] Politics: How's It Going?

[DCLewis1 at aol.com]

Herb,
 
To be explicit what you asked for was (copied from your initial post)
“I  keep hearing about "the plan" and "the timetable". I'd love for someone, 
ANYONE,  to show me a plan and/or a timetable that was released to the general 
public,  say 6 months prior to the end of WWII that bore even a close 
resemblance to the  final outcome of that  war.”

My come  back was that a plan was developed at Yalta that fit your request, 
and also the  occupation plan for Japan fit your request.  Both plans bore a 
close  resemblance to the final outcomes of the respective wars.

Your comeback was Yalta was not a plan, it was a plan to divy  spoils.

My response was to outline the flow down from the Yalta accords that  
actually evolved into tangible campaign and occupation plans that were  dutifully and 
successfully executed by the armies of the allied nations.   The Yalta 
accords were done at a geopolitical level, the military execution  plans to support 
those accords were done by a lot of dedicated staff people  figuring out what 
was needed where, how much of what, numbers of people  involved, training 
needed, etc, etc.  Things tangibly lacking in Iraq - as  Murtha points out, 3 
years after the fact they don’t even have electric power  full time.
 
Additionally, I cited the example of the occupation plan for Japan,  although 
I doubt that plan was released to the public prior to its  execution.   The 
Japanese occupation was organized and executed with  full cognizance of the 
difficulty of occupying and managing a very militaristic  culture that was 
devoted to their emperor - somebody on our side actually  thought through the 
occupation problem.  In retrospect it was a brilliant  plan.  I’m confident the plan 
was organized well before Japan’s  capitulation; it was executed, and it 
worked..
 
Two examples from WWII, Germany & Japan, where prior thinking about the  
occupation problem paid off big time.  And in each case, at the end, the  outcome 
was as planned.  I think I responded to the request in your initial  post.
 
IMO, the contrast between Germany and Japan and the situation in Iraq  couldn’
t be more stark.  Back then they thought it through.
 
I rest my case.
 
Dave