Doubts begin to ripple in capital, Second-guessing, complaints, impatience on war [Quagmire ALERT]

WASHINGTON - After 10 days of watching smart bombs, sandstorms and stiff resistance from the Iraqi regime, a capital that usually embraces the president and his strategy in wartime is beginning to show fissures.

Few have openly split with the president, or the decisions made so far. But one does not have to scratch deep to hear the doubts.

There are the CIA analysts, quietly complaining that their warnings that Saddam Hussein's government might not crack like peanut brittle were dismissed. There are ex-generals on nightly cable television, expressing unease about a plan that relied more on speed than numbers, and that seemed overly dependent on welcoming cheers from the Iraqis. There are field commanders such as Lt. Gen. William Wallace, whose public complaints of an enemy that was "different from the one we'd war-gamed against" set off denials at the Central Command.

There are the terse comments of Secretary of State Colin Powell, who, in an interview on Friday, declined to say whether the Iraq war planners were in danger of violating the famed "Powell doctrine" -- the use of overwhelming force. He assured two visitors to his office that he was certain the Pentagon would, in time, "bring decisive force to bear" -- and then changed the subject.

And there are Democrats who chafe about the war's progress but will not say so publicly. Acutely aware that their Senate leader, Tom Daschle, walked into a hornet's nest two weeks ago when he suggested that the war itself was the result of failed diplomacy, they measure every word.

"No one is going to make that mistake again," said one veteran Democrat. Still, plenty of Democrats recognize that Bush has staked his presidency on success in Iraq. So they will not hold their fire for long.

Finally, there is a White House that is scrounging for evidence that it warned the nation all along that this could be a long slog, even in the face of predictions by Vice President Dick Cheney and others that, in all likelihood, the war would be quick and that "the streets in Basra and Baghdad are sure to erupt in joy."

Cheney may yet prove to be right, the White House says, but 11 days into the war there is a feeling that the enthusiasm of the hawks got out of control.

"There were very high expectations about the conduct of the war and enormous confidence in the military forces; we've all had drummed into us how superior they are," said Lee Hamilton, the former Democratic head of the House International Relations Committee.

Even if the Iraqi government collapses in three weeks, or three months, the war is unlikely to be remembered as an easy struggle.

"It was hubris to go on Fox News and proclaim the war would be a cakewalk," one former aide to the first President Bush said. "The gods were bound to hear it."

Let me insert my comments from below on today's Tommy Franks press conference. It was ILLUMINATING, and the press idiots simply missed it:

Some key statements for "him who has ears, let him hear":

1) THE PLAN from the get go was a "flow" of forces introduced onto the battlefield, and at any given point Franks could say STOP. He instructed the press, and some Freepers, to look at the deployment orders---that they were ALL many months ago. None were drawn up recently.

2) Franks not only "signed off" on the plan, but designed it. He all but said it was nonsense that Rumsfeld overrode anything. He said that he and several others, NONE OF WHOM IS TALKING, know and designed the plan, and it is working. He implied it is working to near perfection.

3) There is no sign of insufficient supply. He distinguished between "Pvt. Franks" who is in the extreme edges of combat who may not have gotten his MRE today, and the supply line as a whole which is effectively functioning and is delivering to pre-ordained points in a timely fashion. The former is a general feature of combat, he implied, not a "problem."

4) This is the one that the press, I guarantee you, totally missed. Responding to a question about the 4th ID, Franks all but said they were never intended to go through Turkey to BEGIN WITH. Those people were right where we wanted them right until the moment we moved them for a very specific reason. Get it? He fixed Saddam's tank battalions in the north while we shot in the south, and secured the oil fields. NOW THE IMPLICATION IS THAT THE IRAQI FORCES HAVE BEEN REDEPLOYED TO THE SOUTH (too late). Hmmm. What does that tell you about our next move?

5) He keeps trying to get these people to understand the plan. The plan is a "mosaic." It involves "options" or "branches" in which ANY of three main attack sources can operate individually against targets of opportunity or in unison---special ops, air, or ground. They "jumped off" when they did because they saw that Saddam had not achieved the ability to destroy the southern oil fields. But apparently there were contingent plans to start with air, or to start with special forces.

6) At any point, he indicated you will see one of the three, two of the three, or all three operating. That does not mean there is a "pause." It means that the plan calls for this to happen in a fluid strategy.

FOLKS, HE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE OPAQUE: THIS IS THE MILITARY EQUIVALENT OF THE "WEST COAST" PASSING OFFENSE. YOU GO TO THE LINE, READ THE DEFENSE, AND IMMEIDATELY ATTACK THE WEAKEST POINT UNTIL THE ENEMY ADJUSTS, THEN YOU AUDIBLE INTO THE NEXT "BRANCH" AND KEEP HITTING 'EM WHERE THEY AINT!"

7) There are continued references to allies working with free Iraqis, not only in Basra, but in other cities on a regular basis as part of the operations. I think this is, in large part, how we intend to take Baghdad. One general said last night we expect it to fall from within. Our "special ops termites" will do a great deal of digging first, but Franks seemed totally confident that we would be successful.

8) He referred to the terror base in the north as "massive." Stupid reporter asked why we haven't seen the chem/bio weapons there. He said, "let's see what we find after we get it investigated."

Thanks so much for that post, LS.

Cheney may yet prove to be right, the White House says, but 11 days into the war there is a feeling that the enthusiasm of the hawks got out of control.

The only people who feel this war is taking too long are those who don't know s##t about military history, or those who have an extreme anti-Bush bias.

This article, without sources for most of its conclusions, represents a futile attempt by the left to find something, anything bad going on for our side, and therefore good for their side. Complete Alice in Wonderland distortion of reality.

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