Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

Already burdened with Afghanistan operations, Franks and Renuart comply with Rumsfeld's orders, recognizing his method is to question and reassess continually. Rumsfeld wants to be able to defeat enemies swiftly as a true deterrent. Terrorism, particularly after 9/11, is too slippery to defend against. It must be preempted. All U.S. war plans must be compressed and rethought from basic assumptions rather than merely being tweaked. Rumsfeld can accept the elevated risk of going in with less force if the trade-off in time seems advantageous. He rejects the idea it must be either world peace or World War III.

As Bush makes headlines in demanding that Iraq re-admit U.N. inspectors, Rumsfeld flies to Tampa, Florida to examine massive Op. Plan 1003. Finding it lacks information on current Iraqi troop strengths or deployment, and re-fights the 1990 invasion rather than swiftly toppling Saddam, Rumsfeld...