Regarding Central Command (CENTCOM) leader, General Tommy Frank’s plan for war in Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell “continued to have concerns, especially about the part of the mission that Franks assumed would be led by the State Department: administering and rebuilding postwar Iraq. Powell had been uncomfortable with Franks’s planning ever since the late December 2001 meeting at Crawford [Bush’s ranch in Texas]. To Powell, CENTCOM had spent an inordinate amount of attention on cutting the time for deployment and less on how to fight in Baghdad and deal with the realities of Iraq once U.S. forces got there. CENTCOM’s briefings often seemed more about transporting troops than anything else, Powell told associates. The Hybrid [invasion plan] force still seemed too small to Powell to control supply lines and dominate the terrain.” [The 25th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II, Pages 80-81