Sorry to be away so much, I had various reasons, including the desire not to argue about matters that would come clear as events unfolded in a short period.
Hasn't the Administration performed an amazing feat in rapidly subduing the Iraquis without massive destruction and much collateral damage? The performance of intelligence and special ops personnel has been exemplary, allowing the minimum application of force, deployed to best advantage. Precision weapons systems have focused destructive power and permitted war to be waged without wholesale destruction. Flexible strategy permitted the oil fields to be saved, and ensured that all engagements were rather lopsided, as the loyalist forces swung wildly. The lights are coming back on, police are operating in the cities, humanitarian aid is flowing, commerce is beginning to revive, the dinar has recovered its valuation at pre- war levels, and we are rounding up major players in the regime. Meanwhile, pro- American sentiment has been expressed more widely than anti- American sentiment, and everyone not a Ba'athist hates the Saddam Hussein regime. We are beginning to plumb the depths of its perfidy, including the luxury it bought at the expense of the Iraqi people, its torture chambers, its band of thugs sent out to control neighborhoods (the Fedayeen Saddam), and so forth. We should be proud of this operation, and grateful that there were so few casualties, especially fatalities....... |
