Report Says Iraq Problems were Expected

It turns out the administration was lying when they claim they could not foresee the problems that would arise from an invasion of Iraq. They were warned. Just as they were warned about the threat from al Qaeda prior to 9-11:

Intelligence analysts predicted, in secret papers circulated within the government before the Iraq invasion, that al-Qaida would see U.S. military action as an opportunity to increase its operations and that Iran would try to shape a post-Saddam Iraq.

The top analysts in government also said that establishing a stable democracy in Iraq would be a "long, difficult and probably turbulent process."

They knew but went ahead anyway:

Democrats said the newly declassified documents, part of a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation released Friday, make clear that the Bush administration was warned about the very challenges it now faces as it tries to stabilize Iraq.

In other words, toppling Saddam Hussein was more important than the death of 3,000 plus American soldiers. Bush:

"Going into Iraq, we were warned about a lot of things, some of which happened, some of which didn't happen," he said. "Obviously, as I made a decision ... I weighed the risks and rewards of any decision."