[Archangelsk]

We're fifty miles from Baghdad, and the couch potatoes are falling appart. Good Lord, we only started this one week ago.

On the other hand, we knew that resistance was going to be light in the south and that the bulk of Iraqi defense was going to be closer to Saddam's power base. What we didn't account for was the 30K fedayeen - who are essentially Saddam's Special Forces - doing what SF traditionally does: disrupt the lines of communication.

Yes, we will win, but it will be longer and more costly than we thought.

[WOSG]

"we knew that resistance was going to be light in the south"

As Rumsfeld has pointed out, we DONT KNOW that, and we didnt know it. Nothing about the future is "knowable". It is all speculation.

Enough of this media echo chamber of demanding speculation, then assuming it is knowledge and then demanding heads roll when 'expectations' that are unreasonable were not met.

We DID KNOW that war is uncertain. We do know Saddam would play tricks. He has. Leaving fedayeen in southern Iraq should NOT be unexpected, since he organized many thousands of them. Fortunately, his tricks wont change the outcome and have inflicted only a few casualties so far. His WMD may be played - it may not. The "urban stalingrad" card maybe played, maybe not. WE DONT KNOW.

We do know that victory is certain because our will and our strength is overwhelming. That is ALL we know.

[DoughtyOne]

Oh I think we counted on Saddam's special forces. We knew they'd fight and we're about to take care of that.