[Peach]

That was a great article.

Unless someone in the administration said it would be a cakewalk, 6 days only, etc., it really doesn't matter. All the rest speculate and then the media tries to spin that into the administration said it.

Thankfully, we don't fall for it on FR. I do think the early reporting of the Republican Guard collapsing within itself was part psy ops and part negotiations were ongoing that didn't entirely pan out.

[mhking]

New sirens in Baghdad...

[mewzilla]

The RG probably would have collapsed if the Feyedeen hadn't been sent in.

[Wphile]

I don't know who, if anyone, said it would be a six day war. However, I must admit - and perhaps this was just the way the media portrayed it - that after the "target of opportunity" on Wednesday night, Rummy was a bit a head of himself. Perhaps it was psy-ops again, but the remarks from DOD was that the regime is crumbling, etc. It did give the impression that things were going so incredibly well that we would, indeed, have a short war. Recall how reports were that we had taken Umm Qsar, the southern oil fields, etc. A person could easily get the impression that the war was going to be easy at the outset.

I think the media raised people's expectations, hence the drop in those thinking the war is going well, but I do believe the administration had a handle in this with all the glowing and positive remarks coming from CentCom and DOD.

I read Section9's analysis and he's probably right but the thought of it taking 2 weeks for our guys to get into position is a bit disconcerting. The media has decided to spin the war as protracted and drawn out now and this will certainly had fuel to that fire.

In any event, we have to handle war in a manner best suited for the military goals not the press's aims. Frankly, I'm probably going to have to tune out for a while as it's going to be so ugly in terms of press coverage.