Posted By:
John J. GrilloKevin Costner said it best...the difference between a .250 hitter and a .300 hitter is about 25 extra base hits year...weak grounders, seeing-eye bloop hits, etc.
1) Every reputable intelligence service (foreign and otherwise) on the face of this earth thought Saddam had chemical weapons.
2) Fact: Some older weapons consisting of mostly mustard and nerve gas were found. Although the more modern chem weapons weren't found, the infrastructure, labs were. He could have reconstituted his chemical program in days if he wanted to.
3) Terrorist training camps were found...terrorists were given safe haven in Iraq, albeit not Al Queda.
Bush's biggest mistake was listening to Rumsfeld's advice. Colin Powell wanted to go in with overwhelming force and if so, we probably wouldn't have lost so many lives. Also, we initially had the wrong generals (incompetent) running the show over there...they are now CNN analysts who, to save a little face, obviously find fault in everything Bush does.
We finally got a General (Petreaus) who can get the job done. Probably the world's foremost expert on counter-terrorism, we are slowly starting to see positive results of what competent leadership can provide, along with the men and women in uniform who believe in him as well.
If we would've went in there initially with the right leadership and more limited goals, Iraq would've been a cakewalk and people would be comparing Bush to Teddy Roosevelt today. There's a thin line between love and hate.