How the invasion of Iraq was supposed to go

A Freedom of Information Act request has yielded a 2002 plan from U.S. Central Command about the invasion of Iraq.

A planning group convened by Gen. Tommy Franks under the coded compartment POLO STEP (a coded compartment created under Clinton for counter-terrorism plans including the targeting of Osama bin Laden) produced this PowerPoint of briefing slides.

The slides show that "key planning assumptions" included that "a broad-based, credible provisional government" would be in place "prior to D-Day," that "Iraqi regime has WMD capability," that "co-opted Iraqi units will occupy garrisons and not fight either U.S. forces or other Iraqi units," and that "Operations in Afghanistan transition to phase III (minimal air support over Afghanistan."

According to the plan, there would only be 5,000 U.S. troops left in Iraq as of December 2006.

(Hat tip to Jacob Sullum at the Reason Blog.)