[bdeaner]

Perhaps the Bush administration deserves it. It did not begin to emphasize the potential for a difficult war until hostilities began.

That's not true. In fact, the Bush administration has said from the beginning that the American people must be prepared for a battle that is longer than predicted, as well as American casualities.

Nevertheless, the rest of the article: seems like a pretty good analysis.

[Timm]

Sustained resistance has come only from the elite forces and fedayeen, not Iraq's conscript army, which constitutes three-quarters of the country's total military strength.

Yes, at last someone at the Times realizes that people are getting pissed at their grim negativism. The above is a point I've not heard anywhere but on FoxNews until now. It's correct, though, and an important fact in evaluatiing the attackst that have "destroyed our supply lines", or, using plain English and not Times-speak, have ineffectively harrassed a convoy or two.

Beware, though. The Times doesn't give like this unless it's planning to sink its teeth into Bush at another point.

[uncbob]

Am I missing something

Did the coalition not use a Blitzkrieg like maneuver to PREVENT Saddam
from blowing the oil fields
flooding the Gulf with oil
blowing the bridges across the rivers
Launching Scuds on Israel

Seems things have gone pretty DAMN GOOD

The only problem has been a State Dept one
We should hyave pulled the ships out of the Med the first day Turkey started their BS
Those other 2 divisions that were activated weeks ago would now be in Kuwait and probably Iraq

[biblewonk]

The coalition won't enter Baghdad in a plodding fashion and then take it block by block. Instead, it will gradually learn where Iraqi forces have set up provisional headquarters and strong points, and then destroy or seize them in a nighttime operation akin to an urban blitzkrieg.

Now that makes a lot more sense. It still seems like an Enemy At The Gate situation though.

[GirlShortstop]

 
Perhaps the Bush administration deserves it....

This second paragraph satisfies the perfunctory Slimes leap from facts (and feely stuff), to a blast on the Administration.  Does the "blame the Admin" line even remotely apply to the the beginning?!  Seems to me that a good writer should know how to transition, to bring the reader along with the flow of the story.

Gray lady is more like a bitter, vituperative hag who can't suppress the urge to spew ugly, disconnected thoughts.  I can't even get through more than three sentences, and the bull$hit flag goes up.  :-(     </rant off>

[VRWC_minion]

Anyone remember that article written in advance of the war regarding how liberals will write about it once it starts ? I think that funny but on point writer predicted these opinions.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Mr. Hussein made a mistake putting several of his divisions outside the capital. That mistake helps the coalition, giving it more leeway militarily by reducing the potential for civilian casualties.

A military mistake, undoubtedly--but in reading it I realized that it may have been a political necessity. When Saddam is in his bunker at the end, he doesn't want anyone of limited political reliability guarding it.

Maybe there is a political, not just military, opportunity for us in that deployment. We should point out to that Republican Guard unit that they have been sent out to die in futility while the tyrant and his henchmen hide behind the skirts of the women. A fact which can scarcely have escaped them . . .

[Mo1]

Pentagon advisers like Richard Perle and Kenneth Adelman have been promising a cakewalk to Baghdad for 18 months; in the late 1990's, Paul Wolfowitz, now the deputy defense secretary, argued that a small American force fighting in conjunction with the Iraqi opposition could quickly overthrow Saddam Hussein.

I sure would like to know what the Media's definition of "cake walk" means?

No war is easy .. but I think in one week, our miltiary has done a damn good job

[Nick Danger]

the looming battle for Baghdad has made many feel a deep sense of foreboding.

Now, why on Earth would that be? The word "looming" in relation to Iraq has appeared 205 times in the last week, in the major newspapers.

loom intransitive verb
1.be seen as large shape: to appear as a large or indistinct, and sometimes menacing, shape
2.be about to happen: to be imminent, often in a threatening way

noun
appearance of something large: an appearance of something, usually something large and threatening (literary)

[js1138]

I suspect that once it became clear that the RG would fight, the U.S. generals are happy to pick them apart for a week or so. It will make things easier after the war.

As for the alleged chemical weapons being seen delivered, I assume they are trying to figure out how to eliminate the delivery mechanism without destroying the evidence.

[The Wizard]

nice piece

[PGalt]

The good news throughout history is that the enemies of life have always been defeated by life.

[stands2reason]

bttt

[PhilipFreneau]

That's not true. In fact, the Bush administration has said from the beginning that the American people must be prepared for a battle that is longer than predicted, as well as American casualities.

Agree. It is the media who is continually raising the bar. Shortly after the initial bombing, a panelist on PBS's "Washington Week", Tom Gjelten of National Public Radio, spun it this way: "Gwen I--here's what I think. I think if we--if there--if the war is continuing next week at this time--and this is where I go out on a limb--if the war is continuing a week from tonight, it's bad news."

[HiTech RedNeck]

We rightfully complain that "NATO" Turkey won't let us march in through them. But consider, that given this war had to happen today, Saddam did us a big favor in 1991 by invading Kuwait and making a sworn enemy out of them. Had Saddam simply kept to himself while brewing up his WMD, Kuwait would be giving us at least as much grief as Turkey, and we'd have virtually no effective way to attack Iraq at all.

A BIG THANK YOU TO KUWAIT

[PISANO]

Nevertheless, the rest of the article: seems like a pretty good analysis

I agree for the most part and I believe GW did tell us all along that the war would come at a heavy cost. It was the "RETIRED MILITARY and CIVILIAN PUNDITS" that gave the false impression it would be a cake walk. Also if the administration would have done what this author seems to suggest and present a 'doom and gloom' scenario to the public, there would never have been the support necessary for this war to be undertaken.

All in all I would say that what I heard from the C-in-C and what is happening now is in sync. It is the NEWS MEDIA that is going apoplectic.

[ctdonath2]

We're about to enter Baghdad...just in time for a new moon.

Could have been the plan all along: our troops "own the night", and what better way to do urban operations than when the opposition can't see a thing. Explains the full-moon start of the war that baffled people.