John Glenn quote (warning, some content may incite anger)

[BleedBurgundy]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

Here's the deal though. We didn't just not have a good plan....we had NO PLAN. Rumsfeld was more worried about consolidating his power, screwing the CIA, and affecting regime change as a means to complete cultural change. What he and his fellow neocons forgot was that winning the war was easy it was getting their idea of flourishing democracy to take hold in the peace that was hard and they had no idea wahat the hell to do to do it.

First of all, I was in the military during the time and onboard a US Navy Sub in the Red Sea as we shot off part of the salvo that was known as "Shock and Awe" so I'm not "talking out of my ass" on this one. We DID have a plan. Saying otherwise is hyperbole generated by those who are diametrically opposed to everything that this administration has done. I'm not saying it was necessarily a good or particularly effective plan, but there was a plan. We did not go to war at the cost of at least 4,000 american lives for the sake of Rumsfeld consolidating power.

My point is that if anyone, ANYONE, expects an occupying force (that's what we are, no reason to sugar coat it) to be welcomed in with open arms, they are delusional. What I think is very convenient is that before the war was begun, public opinion was in favor of action in Iraq. Then, later, when there were no WMD found, everyone acts like you can go back in time and change everything. We are there, regardless of why, how or when we got there, we are. SO that is the current situation. All of this constant bitching about the past is completely inconsequential.

Was the public misled? Definitely. Do they have a right to be pissed off? Yes. Does that have ANYTHING to do with the current situation? Not at all.

I'm not going to write too much more because this is fast approaching incoherent territory but... For better or for worse, we are there. The only plausible course of action is to finish what we came to do. Doing otherwise will send a very harmful signal to the enemy that if they plant enough IED's and blow up enough marketplaces, the US will not have the stomach to endure a drawn out conflict. It will invite more and more of this type of tactic being utilized anywhere we are in that region. It's human nature, find a weakness and exploit it.

People spend a hell of a lot time complaining and examining when what we as a country and unified government need to do is use all necessary force to finish this war in Iraq. AFTER that is accomplished, then we can investigate and make changes in policy so that we don't find ourselves in future situations like this one. But this nationwide backseat driving is completely counter-productive.

Anyone that presumes to know the innerworkings of the cabinet that decided action on this war either is delusional, believes everything they see on CNN and read in the NY Times or both.