things like this

things like this drive me bonkers. in an article headlined Fighting On Is the Only Option, Americans Say, the nytimes does the man-on-the-street thing to gauge the publics' reaction to the ongoing insurgency in iraq:

Stan Joynes, a real estate lawyer and developer in Richmond, Va., said the administration was not upfront about what would be required in Iraq. But maybe, he added, the administration did not know either.

"We know now we weren't getting the whole picture," he said. "I don't think they knew the whole picture."

except that back in the pre-invasion days, many people knew that the bush administration was not presenting the whole picture and tried to draw that to bush's and the public's attention. thousands of americans opposed the iraqi invasion, warning of a quagmire and creating conditions of chronic and violent instability. bush refused to listen to the protesters, saying he doesn't make his policies based on "focus groups". well, the "focus groups" turned out to be right so you can't excuse the administration by saying they didn't know what they were getting into. if they didn't, it was only because of their own willful blindness.

none of the current problems are "unforeseen difficulties." violent resistance to an american occupation was completely predictable and, in fact, was predicted.