Lee wrote:

> this, I think Bjorn is the most balanced and Kuty is, for sure, the most
> closely involved.  They seem to think we're doing more good than bad, which
> is reassuring.  I hope they're right.

I am not balanced at all! I am still 110% in favor of this war. I just have my own reasons for being so, and they don't jive with the "official" reasons. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth :-)

I am, however, incredulous at the media reaction to what are perfectly natural developments in war. They are surprised that some fight back, that coalition troops are, in fact, not bullet-proof, but mostly, they are panicked because the predictions that this was going to be a picnic are not coming true. For an explanation asto why they panick, one must naturally ask the question, "who was it that said it was going to be a picnic ?".

Try, just try, to find a military source for that claim. Military men know the timeless truism that "no battle plan ever survives the first contact with the enemy".

So who perpetuated this claim that the war would be over in a week ? Why, the media, of course. And who can blame them for now running around frantically trying to find someone, anyone, to pass that monkey to ?

There certainly can't be many military historians among them, because if there were, the facts would be there: that this has so far been the single-most successful invasion by a democratic country in the history of modern warfare, with the possible exception of MacArthur's landing at Incheon.

Enemy forces are pinned down, his heaviest divisions are being pounded into the ground on an hourly basis, two thirds of the country is under coalition forces' control, along with all its funtioning airports, its capital is encircled (after undertaking the deepest strike any attack force has undertaken in history, and no doubt making MacArthur proud of their perfect grasp of the leap-frogging strategy), 10,000+ EPOWs are held, including several general officers, a second front is being opened up (and when complete, will have been the first time a heavily armored division has been deployed by means of airlifts), several terrorist training camps have been taken out, humanitarian relief is starting to flow.

And all this has been accomplished in 10 days, with a loss of life on both sides that pales almost to the point of insignificance compared to similar offensive manouvers in the past.

Perhaps it would be worthshile for someone to go aff and investigate how long it took to accomplish the same in France...

Failure - excuse me ? Hello-o ? The only failure here is the media's total failure to accept their responsibility for creating the hype that they are now trying their damndest to pin on the military.

I wait patiently for the day the truth comes out. When the torture chambers are thrown open for the world to see, and the victims can get to tell their story. When the true extent of the previous regime is laid out for the world to see, and people will have to explain why they didn't support the war effort because a few hundred "dead men walking" took some potshots at some coalition tanks and the journalists got all upset because it didn't fit their picture of the world.

"Failure", give me a break!

Bjorn