did ANYONE buy this product???

Full disclosure: I NEVER supported the Iraq mis-adventure, believing "pre-emptive war" a very dangerous doctrine capable of "justifying" aggressive war.

BUT: Did any of the war's initial supporters think they were buying a "permanent U.S. presence in Iraq"???

It's sure not what we were sold at the time:
1. It would be cheap...
a. in manpower: "Mr. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, opened a two-front war of words on Capitol Hill, calling the recent estimate by Gen. Eric K. Shinseki of the Army that several hundred thousand troops would be needed in postwar Iraq, 'wildly off the mark.' ", Paul Wolfowitz, 28 Feb 2003
[... because, you will recall, "Iraq has no history of ethnic strife"!]

b. in $: "There is a lot of money to pay for this. It does not have to be U.S. taxpayer money. We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction." Paul Wolfowitz, 27 Mar 2003

2. It would be short:
"It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."
SecDef Rumsfeld, 7 Feb 2003

Now we're being told we bought a PERMANENT PRESENCE IN IRAQ?????

Call your Better Business Bureau: this is a classic bait-and-switch!

Stop the madness!