This is a worthwhile website for understanding the lead up to the current imbroglio. The following quotes from H-Diplo:

National Security Archive Update, September 1, 2006

New State Department Releases on the "Future of Iraq" Project

New Documents Provide Details on Budgets, Interagency Coordination and Working Group Progress
Posting Includes State's 13-Volume Study Previously Released Under FOIA

Washington, DC, 1 September 2006 - The National Security Archive is today posting State Department documents from 2002 tracing the inception of the "Future of Iraq Project," alongside the final, mammoth 13-volume study, previously obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. "The Future of Iraq Project" was one of the most comprehensive U.S. government planning efforts for raising that country out of the ashes of combat and establishing a functioning democracy. The "Future of Iraq" study, released earlier this year to the National Security Archive and other requesters under the FOIA, remains the single most important documentary record for understanding U.S. reconstruction planning.

The new materials complement previous postings on the Archive's site relating to the United States' complex relationship with Iraq during the years leading up to the 2003 invasion. The documents posted today were culled from 124 documents released in full and 77 with excisions from State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. These materials provide a behind-the-scenes look at the formation of 17 working groups consisting of "free" Iraqis and experts, 14 of which met throughout 2002 and early 2003 to plan for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

Follow the link below to read the documents and analysis from the National Security Archive.

http://www.nsarchive.org

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THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.

For more information contact:
Farrah Hassen or Malcolm Byrne
626/347-8214, 202/994-7000