NOT SURE WHEN BUT VICTORY IS CERTAIN

each day we give the world good reason to think we are arrogant. in a confident, and what some might say brazen statement, president bush said today that "we cannot know the duration of this war, but yet we know its outcome. we will prevail." even as we have faced some of the fiercest fighting and weather difficulties of the conflict so far, with casualties mounting and POW's in the hands of saddams torturers, our president has committed himself to the war, no matter the cost. that was obvious in his supplemental budget request for $75 billion to fund the war and coerce allies to stay the course.

a list of them follows...

things that have gone 'wrong'

1) the u.s. could not get the u.n. to authorize the military action against iraq.
2) the u.s. could not get turkey to allow us to use it for a northern front.
3) "shock & awe" was a nice show but did not get saddam to surrender.
4) civilian casualties are mounting daily.
5) not 1 iraqi has greeted an american soldier with an american flag.
6) the weather is hampering our progress.
7) we have not found any chemical or biological weapons.
8) we have not fully prevented oil well fires.
9) worldwide protests are getting worse.
10) domestic support is waning rather than rising as we march towards bahgdad.

things have also gone 'right'

1) most of the oil is safe...at least for now.
2) some iraqi soldiers are surrendering...not as many as in the last gulf war.
3) the u.s. marines are 50 miles from bahgdad in 6 days...scared to cross 'red-line' and face saddams wrath.
4) many cities are secure, we think, and humanitarian aide has started to arrive, but much more is needed.
5) opec has not started an oil embargo...yet.
6) u.s. military casualties are minimal...so far.
7) chemicals weapons have not been used against our troops...yet.
8) israel has not been engaged by saddam...yet.
9) kuwait has not been successfully attacked...yet.
10) no terrorist attack/retaliation has occured in the u.s....yet.
11) no refugee crisis has developed...yet.

as you can see, the things that have gone right could still end up going into the 'wrong' column, but for now the lists are about even. unfortunately, i think that could change for the worse, regardless of how optimistic our president and military leaders are. and until they know for sure that we will 'win', and i'm not sure what a win will look like, we shouldnt be bragging about the victory.

have a grateful day!

larry