Maybe McCain doesn't read history. We had a half million soldiers in Vietnam. He must of missed that while staying at the Hanoi Hilton. Someone should let him know.
Rummy was right not to repeat the mistake. It would have been more fodder for the roadside bombers and surface to air missiles. What we don't know is who stopped us from using more aggressive strategies like MOABing the Sunni Triangle and Sadr City and carrying out hot pursuit across enemy borders.
Was it Rumsfeld's idea to fight a politically correct counterinsurgency in Iraq, or Colin Powell's, or President Bush's? Whose idea was it to leave Iran and Syria off-limits as no-go sanctuaries for the terrorist "insurgents"? I seem to recall that the State Department was given a huge role in running the occupation, and that Paul Bremer - who everybody acknowledges made a ton of serious mistakes there - wasn't exactly Rummy's man.
I think hanging all the blame on Rumsfeld for what the leftist media and defeatist Democrat party have spent three years selling as a "quagmire" in Iraq is a copout. Furthermore, the United States military is not losing in Iraq. They just haven't been allowed to do what's necessary to win. Maybe now they will be, if our beloved lazy, easily distracted public will show some backbone.
Hindsight is 20/20, of course.