Perspective on the Duration of War: We are winning quickly. . . .

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | Monday, April 7, 2003 | By Charles Krauthammer

[JohnHuang2]

The First Gulf War took six weeks. Afghanistan took nine. Kosovo, eleven. We are now just past two weeks in the Second Gulf War. It's time for a bit of perspective. This campaign has already been honored with a ``quagmire'' piece by The New York Times' Johnny Apple, seer and author of a similar and justly famous quagmire piece on Afghanistan published just days before the fall of Mazar-e Sharif and the swift collapse of the Taliban.

The drumbeat of complaint for the first two weeks from the media, retired generals and anonymous administration malcontents has been twofold: the ``flawed plan'' and the raised expectations.

With American troops at the gates of Baghdad, the plan is looking pretty good now. But even when things looked tough in Week Two, the frenzy of the critics was a bit weird. It's an old military cliche that all plans look great until the shooting starts. Then the plan is thrown out. Nonetheless, Tommy Franks' plan has fared better than most. It may not have anticipated the level of initial resistance in the south. But this is a campaign of staggering complexity. The fact that but a single element was miscalibrated (without significant damage to the overall campaign) is, on the contrary, testimony to a plan of remarkable prescience.

[JohnHuang2]

Monday, April 7, 2003

Quote of the Day by CounterCounterCulture

[gridlock]

"General Franks, did your plan envision that the Iraqi regulars would be lacing their boots Patrooper-style, with the laces running straight across instead of at angles?"

Gen Franks: Well, no. Not really. I don't really see....(drowned out)

FAILED PLAN! FAILED PLAN! General Franks failed to forsee (mumble, mumble). We are headed for a Quagmire! Iraq is Arabic for Viet Nam, etc...

[Bluntpoint]

Have you seen many ducks around Baghdad?

I am thinking maybe all the pundits were talking about the impending "Quackmire."