Unlike Bill Clinton I did oppose the war in Iraq as proposed “from the beginning.” But like Bill Clinton I acknowledged that the Gulf War was ongoing. It was in a state of continual truce interrupted by numerous Saddam infringes such as Kuwait border troop movement and repeated offensives on the no-fly zones. To be sure Saddam was a blundering strategist, having had to agree to a truce, not to mention the truce with Iran debacle, and being a damnable nuisance.

On the strength of its being a cake-walk Bush’s strategy to end this damn thing once and for all proved to be popular at the time even though most of the American public was opposed to troops on the ground, assuming Bush would resume and intensify strategic, merciless bombing. Most of the public viewed Saddam a paper tiger—mischievous and on his last legs of having any sphere of influence in the Mideast.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to ho-hum air attack theater, the marquee switched to threats of WMD impending or otherwise mattered with the enhancement of images of the mushroom cloud and Chemical Ali salivating over American cities. Before we knew it American Grunts were on the move following the fizzle of “shock and awe.”

Now we have the mockery of the “surge” whereby 25,000 troops have succeeded in what 130,000 troops couldn’t do. Once more the MSM has taken the bait and the war no longer headlined will go on, regardless of party, till 2013 and decades to follow.