[sweetjazz]

Andy, depending on how grave the mission is believed to be, it might not be relevant to explicitly estimate casualty figures.

Consider WWII. Obviously very different circumstances, but I don't think expected casualties were a very pressing concern at the time.

Bush, and other members of his administration, believe strongly in what they are trying to accomplish in Iraq. I personally believe that they are being blinded quite a bit by optomism, but I don't doubt that Bush really believes in what he is trying to accomplish in Iraq.

I suspect he thought this war would have casualties of roughly the scale as the first Persian Gulf war, but that he didn't really manage to develop a good sense of what was to come in Iraq after the invasion.

Also, Bush is very uncomfortable with accountability. Almost any criticism of his policies is deflected as part of "the blame game" or "helps our enemies." I am not sure he is psychologically capable of taking full responsibility for his decisions as president (which is an *immense* burden for every president) without deflecting away most/all of the criticism of him.