[mburbank]

While I agree they desired an eternal war as a method of permanently increasing their power and the ability to hold on to it and pass it along dynastically, I think they intended the real, physical war to go far better than it has. I think they only wanted enough ongoing violence to sustain the rhetorical pretext of forever war.

They would have been far more pleaed with the predicted rapid victor in Iraq, a reasonably succseful puppet state and deployment into the next war zone.