WP:A Month of Second Thoughts on Iraq

[cal04]

In October, Even Many Stalwarts Have Begun to Question U.S. Policy
As the fighting in Iraq swerved toward civil war in February, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) expressed "a high degree of confidence" that a new government would take charge and that by the end of the year the conflict "won't be the same."

As October opened, Warner returned from Iraq with a far grimmer assessment. "The situation," he said, "is simply drifting sidewise." His judgment gave voice to Republican doubt suppressed in a campaign season. Lawmakers who had vowed to "stay the course" called for change. One GOP senator declared Iraq "on the verge of chaos." By last week, President Bush was saying he too is "not satisfied" and is looking for a fresh approach.

October 2006 may be remembered as the month that the U.S. experience in Iraq hit a tipping point, when the violence flared and shook both the military command in Iraq and the political establishment back in Washington.

(snip)
A Marine colonel said he is seeing a major shift even inside the military. "There's a concern now that there wasn't previously," said the colonel, who remains on active duty and is not authorized to speak publicly on political matters. "Folks that took things at face value in the past are asking more questions."

Thomas E. Ricks and Peter Baker
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/28/AR2006102801052.html

[babylonsister]

1. The camel's back is breaking; the military are the straws. nt

[mike_c]

2. "Folks that took things at face value in the past..."

...are fools. Now they're "asking more questions." That would have been more appropriate BEFORE an unprovoked and illegal invasion.

[babylonsister]

3. Everyone was lied to, mike_c. We are still being lied to. The

run-up to war? We still don't have all the facts despite Reid and the Dems, in the summer of 05, shutting the Senate down to make a statement.