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A recent article describing the planning process for post war Iraq presents a simple idea that we are witness to, but may not be particularly conscious of.

Rumsfeld forbade plans for securing post war Iraq

excerpts: "Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld (said) "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a post-war plan."
"I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations (post war planning), which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today."
"He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."

Take these quotes and this idea that the war would not be supported if it were to continue on and on. Now remember the types of statements coming from the highest offices at the war's start, for example Cheney saying that the war would last for a few weeks. Or how Cheney periodically states that the insurgency is in its last throes, giving the impression that the war will soon be over. Or Rumsfeld stating we would be hailed as liberators and given flowers, when in fact we were greeted with a formed functioning insurgency.

All these statements point to an understanding that America would only support a "quick" war. Yet the war continues, and now slowly and little by little, we have come to understand that the US will be in Iraq for a long time to come.

The planners of the war were well aware of the need for the right public relations face to present war to the American people. We were told it would be quick by people who knew that this was not true but that the war had to be framed in this way for it to fly.