Great column by Richard Reeves. "Political correctness has turned sharply right, hasn't it?" "The trick now for the figure at the center of all this, the bold President Bush, is to focus attention on the military outcome and then to hold off the political accounting until after his re-election in 17 months. That will not be as easy as persuading Americans that Saddam Hussein was the bad guy behind the killings of Sept. 11, 2001. With the probability that the U.S. economy may not be in the best of shape during 2004, the president may have to try to keep war fever up and political opposition down for the next year and a half. The voices of the few will have to be stifled by the crowd -- and that may mean more war."
It's been said before, but expect that to result in true unilateralism. We're only involved this time because Tony stuck to his guns (bad turn of phrase). Even Tony won't be standing 'shoulder-to-shoulder' if Bush wants to whack anyone else to stay in power. Bush may have fooled Tony once into helping him get a second term, but going after other percieved annoyances is a different matter. After all... fool me once, shame on you...errr me...err, fool me twice...
W certainly did a good job shut most of Dems up before the war. A lesson to spineless Dems: don't whine, next time get your politicians to STOP the war at the very beginning. (i.e. before all the moving and staging of the troops). Once the war started, of course all bets are off; as much as I don't buy W's reasons of going to war, but once it started, I (and I believe vast majority of the American people) can only support a speedy victory. Anything said or done to give Saddam and especially his lackeys a hope (no matter how faint or delusional) that he can stick it out would just cause MORE casualty from both sides. That is the reality. Deal with it.