[BroJoeK]

"There was no amount of explaining or playing of CSPAN tapes on talk radio that could remove those images of Bush responsible. "

Of course Bush was responsible. That is a fact and not debatable.

But it's also a fact that most Democrat leaders supported Bush's policies and urged him on, until the going got tough. Then they turned on him and did everything they could to undermine him politically.

The chaos in Iraq did not happen overnight. It took years to develop and even longer to figure out what was required to defeat it.

So it's an interesting question: knowing everything we do today, could Iraq have been stabilized and returned to Iraqi control significantly faster, and with many fewer lost lives than, in fact, it was?

My point is: if Iraq was the fault of "stupid" George Bush, then a "genius" like Barrack Obama should be able to solve an easy problem like, say, Afghanistan in a matter of days, or weeks, right? :-)

[sickoflibs]

Your points are valid. I was sticking to the political reality which this post was about.

[marktwain]

” The chaos in Iraq did not happen overnight. It took years to develop and even longer to figure out what was required to defeat it.

So it's an interesting question: knowing everything we do today, could Iraq have been stabilized and returned to Iraqi control significantly faster, and with many fewer lost lives than, in fact, it was?”

Yes, I believe that it could have been. The left in this country did a great deal to demoralize us and to lend moral support to the enemy, all simply to undermine the Bush administration. If the MSM and the left (but I repeat myself) had been enthusiastically for victory in the Iraq war, I believe we would have won cheaper and quicker. Remember Abu Ghraib?