"No plan for Phase IV"

The official U.S. Army historian responsible for chronicling the war in Iraq concludes that the Pentagon and military brass called for the invasion of a country with absolutely no plan for the occupation, or "Phase IV."

"While there may have been 'plans' at the national level, and even within various agencies within the war zone, none of these 'plans' operationalized the problem beyond regime collapse" -- that is, laid out how U.S. forces would be moved and structured, Wilson writes in an essay that has been delivered at several academic conferences but not published. "There was no adequate operational plan for stability operations and support operations."

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Army commanders still misunderstand the strategic problem they face and therefore are still pursuing a flawed approach, writes Wilson, who is scheduled to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point next year. "Plainly stated, the 'western coalition' failed, and continues to fail, to see Operation Iraqi Freedom in its fullness," he asserts.

"Reluctance in even defining the situation . . . is perhaps the most telling indicator of a collective cognitive dissidence on part of the U.S. Army to recognize a war of rebellion, a people's war, even when they were fighting it," he comments.

Because of this failure, Wilson concludes, the U.S. military remains "perhaps in peril of losing the 'war,' even after supposedly winning it."

Hopefully, this will be kept in mind should Tommy Franks be awarded another "medal" or a job as head of Homeland Security.

Because the results of that inability to come to terms with "even defining the situation" have been horrific.

Sergeant Posner, who weighs about 260 pounds and is 6 feet 6 inches tall, said he felt as if he had been "launched" by the force of the blast.

"The next thing I knew I was wiggling around on the floor," he said. "I was hurt. It felt like something had hit me on the hip. It hurt like hell. I tried to crawl away."

The rest of his injuries are mapped out across his body, from the place on his head where a ball bearing was removed, down his thigh still implanted with shrapnel, and on to his fractured lower right leg, swathed in bandages.

On his stomach, his face to the floor, he wormed along, peering through the dim light, only to find himself awash in carnage. "It was pandemonium," he said. "It was gruesome. There were body parts everywhere.

"I remember crawling over some guy writhing in pain. He was screaming in pain. He was a civilian American. He was bleeding, calling out for help. I climbed over him and crawled underneath a broken table or chair, throwing it out of my way. But the place was destroyed. People everywhere were screaming. It was horrific inside there."

Dazed, he groped for a weapon and struggled to get out to a bunker, thinking it was a mortar attack and that more would follow. Many of the soldiers interviewed here thought the blast was from mortars or rockets. None said he had seen anything suspicious inside the mess hall. The authorities now believe a suicide bomber, dressed in an Iraqi uniform, set off the explosion.