Doug R.---you have decided to remain naive? You still think they told the truth? You still think they can "win"? You still believe they have a "strategy for withdrawal"? You still expect to see columns of "legitimate" Iraqi tanks, U.S.-friendly and primed for battle? You are convinced that one day we will witness the exploits of the New Iraqi Air Force, all kitted out with the latest fighter-bombers laden with smart bombs? That the Iraqi navy will look upon "pirates" off the Horn of Africa as so much small-fry? Good----for that is one of the only two ways our "coalition" can declare "victory". And to cope with the mood of bitterness and antagonism which has intensified in the Mid East down recent years, they really WILL have to have a stock of WMDs. If the Rethuglicans see such a scenario as being to their advantage, they will supply the lot---without one little inkling of irony, or twinge of conscience. The other way to "win" is to build monster Military bases, and withdraw into those for a permanent stay.
That way, they can be on hand if their new "democracy' is perceived as being threatened by mavericks outside the walls who wish to go back to being sovereign Iraqis. Of the two options, I hope --and suspect---it will be the second. It seems unlikely that the best of all situations will prevail---for that means getting the hell out of Iraq and ending all the mayhem and bloodshed stemming directly from the occupation, and allowing Iraqis to sort THEMSELVES out, and subsequently forming trade or defensive alliances with those nations and peoples with whom they can still reasonably form trusting relationships. But that, in the eyes of the Neocon hawks and their toadies, would be "defeat". And if the populations who support them think likewise, they should look for the guilt not only at Saddam, but squarely at the liars who took them into this cruel farce in the first place.