Lost before it began...

Folks, I don't know how to break this to you gently, so I'll just be blunt:

We lost this war before it began.

We chose the timing.
We were not responding to an attack.
We were not pre-empting an imminent attack.

W and Rummy decided the year, the month, the day, the hour to start the war.

In the early days of the war we heard a military maxim repeated ad infinitum, a variant of von Moltke's adage:

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."
[Helmuth von Moltke the Elder]

Our fearless leaders inferred from this that planning is pointless.

I'm not sure Aristotle would approve the implied syllogism.

"Yes, but what if...?" No one ever considered contrary contingencies.

"…my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."
[VP Cheney, Meet the Press, 16 March 2003]

And if we're not? Pish-tush! Such a pessimist you are!

Our brave men in uniform have been paying for this folly ever since.

W is still in office.

Rummy, not quite disgraced, is gone to a peaceful private life.

Our soldiers and Marines are still dying.

Stop the madness!