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n&v, I forgot to mention that my glass is half-full, and I'm ok with that.

texxie & Greenpees, thanks, and welcome to FR. Greenpees, maybe you'll get used to ole nicollo. He's renowned for making a fool of himself, but he's good at it.

Sam, you wrote, "Don't rush, take your time and do the job right." I'm tempted to agree, but I'm not so inclined. I think we'll keep moving. I'm intrigued by the lack of news from the front. I think that indicates more, rather than less is about to happen.

The initial rush was brilliant. There is so much bad that didn't happen because the heroes of the 3rd ID and the Marines are knocking on Baghdad's door, as well as the rest of our boys & girls who're running all over Iraq. Nothing we could have accomplished without sending in the 3rd cannot be accomplished, or better, with them there. And,damn, what Special Ops has accomplished is unreal, and I can only begin to imagine it. Think about it:

Firstly, there is no longer any, ANY argument whether or not we should invade. Even if we bombed first while loading up fully in Kuwait a la Gulf I, the pressure not to invade would be increased and immense, and the public would be unsure. All anybody can say today is that we shouldn't have invaded. Even France has done some serious STFU of late. The UN has been rendered entirely useless, and far more so than had we not gone with the rolling start. Sometimes the past tense is one's best friend... (it never seemed to work with my wives and ex-wives, but that's another story).

Another huge benefit of the quick invasion is that the WMD inspections are pedal to the metal, and most intrusive. Air power is great, but the colonoscopy is a hands-on procedure.

There's a host of things that haven't happened, from no scuds at Tel Aviv, no burning of the world's 2nd largest oil fields, to no genocide in Iraq. Among the many things that have been made far more difficult for the Iraqis is coordination with Al Queda and other terrorists, UN legitimacy, and the PR campaign be run out of Paris. On the diplomatic scene, our allies have more political cover from the invasion than they would have under a slower start, and our enemies have lost their straw man. Kuwait, Saudi, Jordan, etc. are forced and fixed in our line. Oh, and Turkey is screwed.

It could have been very, very different. The rolling start was brilliant.