The War - How do ya like it so far?

my answer is no to all the questions.

Edgar,

No, I'm not surprised that the war is not over. I predicted a short war, and so far seen no reason to change my opinion. So far the Iraqi's have not made much of a fight. They are dug in around Baghdad, and may yet engage us in a serious way.

Some are concerned with the strategy of by-passing the major cities leaving Saddam loyalists in our rear. That is a risk, but one well worth taking. The center of gravity is/in and around Baghdad, and that is were an attack is properly focused. To become bogged down, flushing the fanatic loyalists from beneath every rock, would dissipate our energies and increase the time needed to conclude the conflict. The enemy inside those by-passed cities have relative little power and will wither away once Baghdad has fallen. Though the media have dramatised the pin-prick attacks to our supply column, I don't believe that those attacks have been effective in corroding our combat effectiveness.

Yes, I believe that this war was necessary and victory will be worth the costs, though they will be great. With Saddam gone, a major sponsor of terrorism will be off the board and the world will be able to breath a little easier. With Saddam gone, there is a chance to restore some stability to the region. A victory in Iraq will send a message to militant regimes that support of terrorism will not be tolerated, and that the United States will no longer threaten with no intention of actually acting. That will strengthen, I think, our diplomatic posture and reduce the chance of further conflict.

No, I don't believe that a perfect world, a Utopia will result from this conflict. I suspect that some radical Islamic factions will become even more dedicated to the fall of Western Civilization. The Middle-East will continue to be on a near-boil for a long, long time. We may well have to fight another war in rather short order against Kim Jong-Il on the Korean Peninsula. I really dread that possibility because we have family in Seoul, and our son is a Asian specialist in the Army. A lot of people will come out of this conflict injured, and it will take years for them to recover. Politically, this country will probably remain polarized and divided. I expect the economy to recover pretty quickly. This conflict is not the War to End all Wars, but hopefully out of it a lot of good will come.

Edgar

Feelings & thoughts so far?
Well, I've turned the TV off the ongoing coverage .... Just found it too anxiety inducing & found all the spin & "analysis" outrageous.

It is fascinating watching the "experts" back-track on the predicted length of the war ... Pretending they'd never made such ridiculous predictions in the first place.

And the endless attacks on anti-war protesters are getting a bit tedious.
To me, war is simply a barbaric & inappropriate way to resolve conflict & I'm intensely disappointed & sad that this is actually happening at the start of a new century .... The constant accusations of "simplistic" to this line of thought is becoming a bit tiring.

So far for me it is just a delayed replay of Vietnam. The entire Middle East is being destabilized and I fear the worst. Not that out military will not succeed in conquering Iraq but that the consequences of such arrogance will haunt us for ever and we will never get out of the morass.

Celebrating war is not my game. I love those kids out there very much.. But I am afraid this is no computer game and the suffering will affect them and their families forever.

It is interesting that there are reports that the oppressed people of the Middle East are able to watch uncensored TV about the war while we in the land of the free are only able to see and hear the US/Pentagon sanitized version. This I believe will cost our political leader's much in the end run.

I to have turned off TV for the most part but it, the problems of this war are difficult to avoid. War is all any one seems to talk about.

Things are shaping up pretty much as I thought they would - third world countries vs. the mighty US. It would be laughable if it was not so painful.

My main question is why did our military leader not understand how Bedouin tactics. It is their desert and they know how to live there we do not. Summer is coming and that will tell the tale.

Ditto.

I'm with wilso and Gezzy.

This war sucks.

The world in general will not be one bit safer -- and probably will be much less safe.

The United States in particular will not be any safer -- and probably will be much less safe.

It absolutely is NOT a necessary war -- and I cannot coceive of the benefits outweighing the negatives that will come from it.

If there is an impact on the Islamic world -- my guess is it will be a negative one.

Two of my main fears..number one is that true or not, accurate or not....GWB will be viewed now and forever more by a GREAT deal of the World as "The Butcher Of Baghdad", successfully usurping this dubious honor from Saddam Hussein.

Next, and possibly more important, GWB, politicians and more's the pity, Americans in general will, in their arrogance and pridefullness not give a damn what the world thinks locking into an
ever escalating pattern until we get our asses spanked hard, and our grandchildren pay the price.

Your questions:

1. I did not expect it to be over by now.
2. I was surprised, the first couple of days, of the Iraqis apparently giving so little resistance. Now that they resist I'm not.
3. No.
4. I don't think the plan for the aftermath was "the Arabs loving us and changing their governments". That's propaganda. The real plan is the US stablishing friendly governments in the region, reshaping it, regardless of the people's will, or of the bigger feasibility of terrorist attacks in US territory.

But I have had a few surprises indeed:

1. The capacity of the US media and populace to constrain themselves in order to win the war.
2. The messy strategics, which do not take into account the cultural differences between the Coalition members and the Arab societies. I fear that the Western soldiers and commanders don't know what this people are capable of doing. They repeat and repeat to themselves that it is all Saddam's "cruelty and megalomania". That's a tragically wrong perception.

Bi-Polar Bear is right about the very negative change of America's image in the rest of the world.
The rest of the world may be wrong in making GWB an equivalent of Saddam Hussein (not as bloodthirsty, but manyfold as powerful), but that's the ongoing process in the hearts and minds of billions.
This (well-earned) loss of worldwide prestige is a very bad thing for democracy.

And BP's fear of the "ever escalating pattern until we get our asses spanked hard" seems justified.
I fear for it, too.

Joanne is correct in likening this war to the one in Vietnam. The similarities are there, for those who remember what it was like back then.

For example, Rumsfeld et al complain that the Iraqis aren't playing by the rules because the lines between civilian and soldier are blurring. Golly, as Rumsfeld would say. That's what happened in Vietnam, too. That's what people do when their country is invaded.

We'd have a name for civilians who fought back if the US were invaded. The name would be Hero.

Here's what Maureen Dowd had to say about this yesterday:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/115053_dowd31.shtml

OK, let us call the Iraqi suicide bombers heroes, just by analogy. But then we should neglect the number of such heroes being killed, and not to consider their killing a massacre or a war crime. They chose armed resistance, then they should be ready to bear consequences of such a choice, granted, military technological potential of the USA has seriously improved since the Vietnam war, and these "heroes" have virtually no chances to keep their beloved Saddam at power. OK?

COMMENT:

Well -- there's only been one Iraqi suicide bomber -- so talking about not having to consider their killing a massacre seems a bit over the top.

Perhaps you really weren't trying to make the point you seemed to be making -- and perhaps you are tying to say a massacre could be justified.

The United States is prepared to pay a "very high price" in terms of casualties to capture Baghdad and oust President Saddam Hussein, a senior official of the U.S. Central Command said on Monday.

"We're prepared to pay a very high price because we are not going to do anything other than ensure that this regime goes away," the official told reporters, adding that U.S. casualties in the 12-day-old war had so far been "fairly" light.

"If that means there will be a lot of casualties, then there will be a lot of casualties," said the official, who spoke on condition that he not be named.

Referring to nights in World War II "when we'd lose 1,000 people," he added: "There will come a time maybe when things are going to be much more shocking."

Yahoo! News

If you want to call suicide bombers heroes, be my guest. I didn't call them heroes...

I had no expectations about the invasion -- and still don't. Because it is an aggressive action on our part, my interest and sympathies are with the civilians. On NPR today, I heard bits and pieces of ToTN in which (non-embedded) correspondents now in Baghdad described what it is like there. Even the American reporters are still warmly welcomed by the Iraqis, are not considered "ugly Americans." The devil is Bush. Does that maybe make them smarter than we seem to be?

I'd be very surprised if there weren't a serious backlash once all this is over.

PS: Quite a few of the reporters seemed to speak Arabic. That would make a huge difference in their reception and will make a big difference, I think, in how the military are received if they don't speak Arabic. Yes, they doubtless have translators. But there's nothing like the respect one shows to others by speaking their language in their country.

I am of the persuasion that Americans and Europeans are at heart imperialists, with the US having just now the upper hand over the Europeans. The Manifest Destiny that drove the US to massacre the Indians is being refined and applied to the rest of the planet. I am in utter sympathy with the innocent in this and I wish very much the soldiers on both sides could disengage and go safely home. My scenario won't happen, of course.

Seven terrified women and children just massacred by US forces. They must have been really dangerous enemies.

i'm with Edgar

Dys