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After 7 months it's a historic failure, huh? Some people (liberals) have the patience of a 2-year-old. You'd almost think they want us to fail, but that couldn't be, could it?

Could a failed mission in Iraq really fall under the heading of "wishful thinking" for some people?

It seems that Fallows finds the crux of "problem" in the lack of planning to address the "handling and demobilization of Iraq's very sizeable military." I would suggest that most military planners were convinced (as most Arabs from the Gulf to Morocco were) that the Iraqi army, paramilitary and security forces would fight fiercely on its home soil. Instead, they all folded like a punctured accordion. The speed of the military victory was a surprise.

For months now the coalition forces have begun what seems to people like Fallows to be the painfully slow reconstruction of the Iraqi military and police. However, the problems we face in Iraq are somewhat analogous to rebuilding Germany following WWII -- and that reconstruction took years. Also analogous to the problems of post-World War II Germany was the cry by political and media elements in the United States to "bring the boys home".

Thus far the American public has been unwilling to buy the carping of people like Fallows. They understand how momentous this victory has been, and how the cards are being reshuffled throughout the Middle East. Bush, however, would do well to deliver at least one major speech a month on Iraq and the progress and problems we face there.

I think you are missing the point. The most important time of an occupation is the first months. During this time, nothing that was forseen as a possible problem was adaquetly prepared for. It so happens that what was forseen as possible problems are indeed the problems we are having.

Yes, if we go in blind (not taking any of the findings information) then we can only do what we can when situations arise. And yes, our soldiers over there are doing a great job of that fire-fighting.

But don't fool yourself, Rumsfeld sent us to occupy Iraq unprepared. Worse, he did it willingly.