Vision ----> Strategy ----> Tactics (Got it Now, Condi?)

Over at the Pen and Sword, Commander Huber tries to explain the difference between tactical mistakes, incredibly inept strategic planning and a fatally flawed geopolitical vision to Condoleezza Rice. Personally, I don’t think she is capable of appreciating the distinction.

If the Gulf region is stable twenty years from now, it won't be because of the Bush administration strategies. It will because someone was miraculously able to come along and clean up the mess the neoconservatives created. And no matter how the Middle East looks in the year 2026, there will be no reason to believe it looks any better than it would have if we had simply kept the toothless Saddam Hussein contained and waited for him to die of old age.

When you combined flawed vision, botched strategic planning and inadequately resourced tactical execution, what do you get? Let's call it Iraq.