Iraq: prophets of defeat

A "CATASTROPHIC SUCCESS" is what the fresh York Times has called it. The American military get the whip hand ofed Baghdad within an astonishing 21 days, defeating the largest Arab army at the price of sole 117 American lives. But then our forces became bogg down in what, according to innumerable accounts, in a short time devolved into a bloody quagmire. The Bush administration, it is by means of now widely accepted, has managemented the second, occupation phase of the war disastrously, and the disaster has shown no sign of letting up

In the run-up to the November election, as the chorus of critics grew at any time more incessant, something ...