Thomas Friedman on the War
This seems right to me:
"Why, in the face of rampant looting in the war's aftermath, which dug us into such a deep and costly hole, wouldn't Mr. Rumsfeld put more troops into Iraq? Politics. First of all, Rummy wanted to crush once and for all the Powell doctrine, which says you fight a war like this only with overwhelming force. I know this is hard to believe, but the Pentagon crew hated Colin Powell, and wanted to see him humiliated 10 times more than Saddam. Second, Rummy wanted to prove to all those U.S. generals whose Army he was intent on downsizing that a small, mobile, high-tech force was all you needed today to take over a country. Third, the White House always knew this was a war of choice--its choice--so it made sure that average Americans never had to pay any price or bear any burden. Thus, it couldn't call up too many reservists, let alone have a draft."
Perhaps "things are going well" in Iraq, as Captain Dave says. I really don't presume to know. I will say that I'm somewhat skeptical, given my view that Captain Dave would say this no matter what, as he is infatuated with his notion of all of our contributions to a big psychological chess match with "terror." But in any even, even if things ARE going well, they certainly could start to go poorly if the administration doesn't address some of its errors, which continue. Since the administration is loathe ever to admit it makes any sort of error, I'm not holding my breath.
