"FOR SUCH AN ADVANCED SPECIES, THEY SURE KNOW HOW TO RUB 
    IT IN."-- Marge Simpson

    Yeah, there has been a lot of pro-war gloating. And I 
    guess that Dawn Olsen's cautionary advice about gloating 
    is appropriate. So maybe we shouldn't rub in just how 
    wrong, and morally corrupt the antiwar case was. Maybe we 
    should rise above the temptation to point out that claims 
    of a "quagmire" were wrong -- again! -- how efforts at 
    moral equivalence were obscenely wrong -- again! -- how 
    the antiwar folks are still, far too often, trying to 
    move the goalposts rather than admit their error -- 
    again -- and how an awful lot of the very same people who 
    spoke lugubriously about "civilian casualties" now seem 
    almost disappointed that there weren't more -- again -- 
    and how many people who spoke darkly about the Arab 
    Street and citizens rising up against American "liberators"
    were proven wrong -- again -- as the liberators were seen 
    as just that by the people they were liberating. And I 
    suppose we shouldn't stress so much that the antiwar folks
    were really just defending the interests of French oil 
    companies and Russian arms-deal creditors. It's probably a
    bad idea to keep rubbing that point in over and over again.

    Nah.

    * German politicians predicted: "Millions of people in 
      Baghdad will be victims of bombs and rockets."

    What happened: The antiwar Iraqi Body Count site lists an 
    estimated 4,000-6,000 civilians and fighters were lost in 
    the startup months of the War in Iraq. 

    * Ted Kennedy predicted:"A war on Saddam might also cause 
      an unprecedented humanitarian crisis with an estimated 
      900,000 refugees, a pandemic and an environmental 
      disaster as Saddam lit the oilfields on fire." 

    Actual Result: The oil fields were not set ablaze, no 
    pandemic.

    * The UN predicted... It is also likely that in the early 
      stages there will be a large segment of the population 
      requiring treatment for traumatic injuries, either 
      directly conflict-induced or from the resulting 
      devastation. Given the population outlined earlier, as 
      many as 500,000 could require treatment to a greater or 
      lesser degree as a result of direct or indirect injuries.

    What happened: Again, the antiwar Iraqi Body Count site 
    lists an estimated 4,000-6,000 civilians and fighters 
    lost in the startup months of the War in Iraq.

    * Ted Kennedy also predicted: "The U.S. could run through
      "battalions a day at a time" and that the fighting would
      look like "the last fifteen minutes of 'Private Ryan.'"

    Actual Results: Although each fatality is a tragic loss 
    for America, this is still one of most successful 
    military campaigns the US has ever fought.

    Judging from his private statements, the single most 
    important element in Saddam's strategic calculus was his 
    faith that France and Russia would prevent an invasion by 
    the United States. According to Aziz, Saddam's confidence 
    was firmly rooted in his belief in the nexus between the 
    economic interests of France and Russia and his own 
    strategic goals: "France and Russia each secured millions 
    of dollars worth of trade and service contracts in Iraq, 
    with the implied understanding that their political 
    posture with regard to sanctions on Iraq would be pro-
    Iraqi. In addition, the French wanted sanctions lifted to 
    safeguard their trade and service contracts in Iraq. 
    Moreover, they wanted to prove their importance in the 
    world as members of the Security Council -- that they 
    could use their veto to show they still had power."