While I have no doubt that the United States military will eventually defeat Saddam, we have learned that one of our military planners' new theories was somewhat overoptimistic.
No, that's a bit too kind. It was wrong. As Slate's Fred Kaplan notes:
Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters on March 22, "This will be a campaign unlike any other in history—a campaign characterized by shock, by surprise, by flexibility …"We will regroup, of course. We will win this war.But what if the enemies are not shocked or surprised—or if they are at first, but then quickly recover and launch their own campaign of shock and surprise?
The problem, in the end, were the misrepresentations made by the Bush Administration about how easy the war would be to win. Compared to other wars through history, this war is going quite well.
But the expectations were not based on what happened in history. They were based on misstatements made by leading Bush Administration officials.
Misstatements that must be remembered.
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