From "Bay of Pigs Meets Black Hawk Down":

"Few analysts today, however, believe that George W. Bush and his senior advisers, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, have the common sense to swallow the short-term bitter medicine of a cease-fire or a U.S. withdrawal. Rather than face the political music for admitting the gross error of ordering an invasion in defiance of the United Nations and then misjudging the enemy, these U.S. leaders are expected to push forward no matter how bloody or ghastly their future course might be.

"Without doubt, the Bush administration misjudged the biggest question of the war: 'Would the Iraqis fight?' Happy visions of rose petals and cheers have given way to a grim reality of ambushes and suicide bombs.

"But the Bush pattern of miscalculation continues unabated. Bush seems to have cut himself off from internal dissent at the CIA and the Pentagon, where intelligence analysts and field generals warned against the wishful thinking that is proving lethal on the Iraqi battlefields..."

More here.

It's getting increasingly difficult to defend the indefensible. However, the propagandists and apologists for the dictatorship haven't given up their brainwashing tactics. What little I hear of talk radio tells me the propagandists want to label anti-war people as un-American (a Vietnam War-era cliche) and constantly cite the Sedition Act (long since dead because of a court decision) as ways to intimidate people.

It's disgusting. I am coming to the conclusion the "free speech" accorded to talk show hosts is no more a right than yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. It is meant to inflame passions, not to provide information in the public interest.