[Alberta's Child]

My "let's just incinerate 25 million Iraqis" comment was intended to be sarcastic -- I should have been more clear about that.

But make no mistake this war is a victory (tanks in the losers capital and their leader in jail is a pretty good indicator) and will be a victory. We are NOT the Spanish. No doubt, measures need to be taken to avoid more of today's losses but I also have no doubt that they will be made and we will prevail. The only thing that will prevent this is going weak kneed for fear of offending anyone with the measures we take to protect ourselves and the people of Iraq.

You seem to overestimate the attention span of the U.S. public. This administration can't possibly lay the groundwork for a long-term solution in Iraq -- because we have no idea if this administration is going to be around to see it to fruition (how soon we forget that George H. W. Bush was on the unemployment line so soon after "victory" in Gulf War I). Make no mistake about it -- this administration made a gross miscalculation in this war. The timing of the war was purely political -- they really expected to have everything cleaned up (at least insofar as that would be possible) before the situation in Iraq could become a political issue in this campaign.

[HRoarke]

I caught the sarcasm. My position is somewhere in the middle of "what do you suggest, we should just let them kill us" and "kill em all and let God sort em out"...neither position is helpful and assuming that the other side in the arguement believes it is less helpful.

I don't buy the political thing at all. H.W. Bush is roundly cited as losing because we won "too quickly" in Iraq and "didn't finish the job"...and any positives were outweighed by the economy (lied about by Dan Rather specifically and others generally) and that idiot and embarassment to USNA, Ross Perot.

Regardless of the attention span of the mob, I believe that this administration will take the input from the commanders on the ground, just as they have in the past. Looks as thought the Marines are beginning the TCB process today.