But it seems that Saddam was busted because some Army Intel types had the initiative to on their own get inside the lists of lower level people who Saddam might turn to, and then got inside their decision making circle.
then again, we might for very good reasons not to publicize the fact that he was betrayed for the $25MM; keeping them guessing is a big step towards confusion.
But the higher level view, that we are spending them into oblivion (while we are in fact making Iraq more civil for the vast majority of Iraqis) is very valid and very good news for us.
I don't see what went on before as debacle but rather as preface. We could not penetrate what we were not involved in. As insular as Iraqis are now, they were even more so while under the oppression of saddam. It takes time to develop the credibility and the relationships to break through fear and ignorance.
During the Ramadan campaign, I and many others said they could not sustain the level of violence. I also said that the only we could lose is if we chose to quit. My bet was that Bush knows that better than any of us and would not quit Iraq because of those attacks.
For the sake of our policy and the sake of the Iraqi people, I am glad things are turning out the way theya so far are.
Ed