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There was a really astounding story on the NPR show "This American Life" a few weeks back that addressed exactly this. The story asserted that across the board, the question of how to manage the occupation was brushed aside as somebody else's problem. Planners in both the White House and the Pentagon basically completely ignored the post "liberation" phase of the operation, because they couldn't adequately predict how it was going to go, and because it's the hard, glory-free part, and they were fixated on the invasion and capture of Saddam. They justified it by saying that the Red Cross or somebody would take care of that part.
There was a pre-invasion report done by a guy (I can't remember his name or rank now, sorry) that basically laid out EXACTLY what we're currently facing... and it was utterly ignored by all the planners. In fact, they took several actions that he specifically warned them not to do. Disbanding the Iraqi army, for instance.
So it's not just that there was no plan. It's that the effort to MAKE such a plan was deliberately and specifically resisted by those in charge.
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