The media relies on creating impressions, and hoping that nobody actually thinks things all the way through.

The meme now is that this war has been completely screwed up, and it's Rumsfeld and Bush's fault.

Really? The implication is that there was a better way to do it that would have worked if only the "right" people had been running things, or if Kerry had been elected.

Of course, this is where I have to resort to speculation, and alternatives. I don't know if you've noticed this, but the Loyal Opposition here completely spazzes out when I go in this direction. Suddenly, all the houses in the neighborhood are only painted white on the side they can see. In reality, most of these alternatives involve quite specific logic trails, and can be easily followed. But there it is.

Two examples: we need more troops, and we should not have disbanded Saddam's military.

More troops? From where? We used to have "more troops" in the late 1980s. Gone, I'm afraid, with the "peace dividend." It's not like we can hatch them out like Warrior Bugs. Wait two or three years to build up the army (it's a lot more than just training up draftee cannon fodder nowadays) assuming the Congress would fund it over that time, while Saddam promises not to do anything to prepare in the meantime? How well would that work? Do we keep the carriers near Iraq all that time to support the inspections and watch what Saddam is doing? Pull out until then? What? What will Iran, Syria, and Libya be doing during all that time? Meanwhile, what's happening in Afghanistan?

Leave Saddam's army intact? I hear this one a lot, but you know, I'm not sure that's the brilliant idea everyone seems to think it would be. Think about it for a few minutes. We are already having trouble with "ringers" for the insurgency joining rebuilt security forces. Would it be easier if they had already been there? Do we disarm them? Then what? The core assumption, of course, is that Saddam's army would just turn around and be on our side. I don't see how this is any more realistic than assuming that all the Baathists would give up and go home when Saddam was caught.

The media throws shit, hoping nobody will worry about the messy details. Did you read my posts on the armor flap? Did you see what the facts were under all the noise? This has been typical of most of these media attacks.