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They really believed that, once they succeeded in Iraq, a whole host of ancillary benefits were going to ensue, transforming the political landscape of the Middle East. All of those expectations were bizarre delusions and we’re paying the consequences now.

Iraq is a success on many levels and the fight for liberty there is far from over. While there are numerous points of failure in the past and likely points of failure in the future, the global trend toward democratic governance continues. Labeling the war as machinations of Neo-Cons is a cop out. It's an off switch for a brain unable to digest the scope of the disease, much less a cure.

Smart Bomb mania has been an increasingly dominant phenomenon in our military and politics for decades. It's foolish to pin these bizarre disillusions on the Bush Administration when most of the world has bought into it. Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George Bush know history... They know their place in it. They will find themselves in good company with Lincoln, Churchill and more. All of the second guessing and reluctance seen through the lens of history will look pathetic. The Bush Administration will rightfully look courageous.

I do not envy this father one bit. Not because his son died fighting for justice in an American war. That is an honor. I do not envy him because he does not believe in this war. People who do not believe in anything will always live in fear of the people who do. True believers aren’t afraid of anything. That is how I know his son did not die in vain.

God Bless You, Andrew Bacevich Jr.

“People who do not believe in anything will always live in fear of the people who do. True believers aren’t afraid of anything.”

I think you have the wrong guy...
Colonel “Bacevich graduated from West Point in 1969 and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War from the summer of 1970 to the summer of 1971. Afterwards he held posts in Germany, the United States, and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of Colonel in the early 1990s.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bacevich

I do not envy him because he does not believe in this war. People who do not believe in anything will always live in fear of the people who do.

So anyone who doesn't agree with you doesn't believe in anything? Anyone not willing to commit to this war for the next decade is a chicken and a traitor?

This thing is nearly done, thank goodness. Bush will be remembered with Woodrow Wilson, and Rumsfeld with McNamara.