[TheLooseThread]

Reuters = crap.

But this article can be used to illustrate a point. NOBODY knows the military plan (except the planners). The military moves in and everyone says "oh no! aren't you supposed to do strategic bombing for a month first to soften up the targets! oh no! our military doesn't know what they're doing!"

So... for all we know the plan was to make a rapid 1 week movement into iraq to secure the airbases in the south and west. Then spend the month doing the softening up. If that had been the plan then it is a pretty darn good one. Air bases only 200 miles from the lines allow rapid cycle times for air support. Otherwise the cycle time is slow because of the distance the air has to travel. Our buddies the saudis and turks haven't helped. A plane that takes half as long to get to target and back is like having twice as many planes.

The point is that unless you know the plan you can't evaluate how things are going in relation to the plan. duh. All you CAN do is objectively evaluate results to date. So far? Amazingly low coalition casualties (of course 1 is tragic and not worth all in iraq) and massive enemy casulties.

How can any non-moron say that either things are going bad or that the plan is not working?

[ironman]

Read about OPLAN 1003 here.
OPLAN 1003 Major Theater War - East
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/oplan-1003.htm

[bart99]

Good points.

Maybe we want to wait for the 4th ID to circle up around to the north so we can keep those unreliable Turks in their own country.

Or maybe set up a line of defense next to Iran somewhere.

~chuckling~

I think Franks knows well what he is doing.

[libertylover]

How can any non-moron say that either things are going bad or that the plan is not working?

I'm sure you already know the answer to your question - the liberal ones for whom a decisive US victory is the last thing in the world they want to see.