CENTCOM's stated goals in invading Iraq
You know, Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld, my boss, yesterday outlined the military objectives of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Let me review them with you.
First, end the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Second, to identify, isolate and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Third, to search for, to capture and to drive out terrorists from that country.
Fourth, to collect such intelligence as we can related to terrorist networks.
Fifth, to collect such intelligence as we can related to the global network of illicit weapons of mass destruction.
Sixth, to end sanctions and to immediately deliver humanitarian support to the displaced and to many needy Iraqi citizens.
Seventh, to secure Iraq's oil fields and resources, which belong to the Iraqi people.
And last, to help the Iraqi people create conditions for a transition to a representative self-government.
#1 done.
#2 not done (due to faulty assumptions, bad intelligence, twisted intelligence, Saddam being lied to, whatever).
#3 in progress, but may have been made worse by the invasion.
#4 dunno. Apparently there's little evidence that Iraq was directly involved in terrorist networks (outside of well-known support of actions against Israel).
#5 possibly in progress. Libya's giving up its WMD programs and breaking up Khan's nuclear network may (or may not) have turned out the way it did without the invasion.
#6 pretty much done.
#7 done.
#8 in progress, but under a great deal of strain for various reasons.
It looks like the military did an OK job in meeting its stated goals - they weren't completely successful nor unsuccessful. If you consider how many were predicting it would go (tens of thousands of US casualties due to urban siege warfare, etc.), they were amazingly successful in toppling the regime with as few casualties as they've suffered.
Note, I'm not arguing against those who say the invasion was a mistake in this post, just trying to remind us of what the stated military goals were.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.