ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Office of Special Plans

The Office of Special Plans was a group of people who worked together in the government to gather information about a particular topic - the potential threat of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This group was created after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, because the government was very worried about the safety of the United States.

Think of it like this: Imagine you are playing a game and you are trying to win. You want to know what your opponent is doing so you can plan your moves. This group was like your teammates who helped you get information about the other team so you can make good choices.

So, the Office of Special Plans was a team of people in the government who were gathering information about the country of Iraq, because the United States was worried that Iraq might have weapons that could hurt a lot of people.

The members of this team searched for information from many sources, including intelligence agencies and people who had worked in Iraq. They took all of this information and tried to figure out what it meant. Then, they shared their findings with other people in the government to help them make decisions.

However, some people have criticized the Office of Special Plans because they say that the information they collected was not always accurate. They also think that some of the team members may have had their own ideas about what was happening, which could have affected the information they gathered.

So, while the Office of Special Plans was created to help keep the country safe, there are some concerns about how effective they were in doing this.