New stab-in-the-back-theory? If the civilians had only listened to the Red Team ...

Michael Gordon was a co-author with the infamous Judith Miller on several of the New York Times' articles that recycled cynical Cheney propaganda to justify invading Iraq. When I read his articles, I generally assume I'm looking at something like a Pentagon PR release.

So my first thought when I saw this article, an excerpt from a book he has coming out, I immediately thought how this will make a good stab-in-the-back-theory to argue that our glorious generals won the war in Iraq and every battle during it and everything would have turned out fine if the wimpy civilians, unworthy as they are to make decisions about war, had just listened to the Pentagon: The Iraq Red Team Foreign Policy 06/24/2012. "Nobody can say for certain what might have happened, but it is instructive that some of the spurned recommendations were very effective when belatedly implemented years later," he writes.

Check it out. Just remember it's Michael Gordon you're reading.

Tags: iraq war, michael gordon