Paradoxes

Andrew Sullivan says of part of Bush's speech last night

The critical point that the swift victory over Saddam paradoxically made the occupation more difficult - because Saddam's minions were able to escape, melt into the population and fight another day - was made early on.

I'm not so sure this is a paradox. If the regime was as hated more by more Iraqi's - as Bush clearly hoped, pre-war, then perhaps we needn't have worried as much. But since many die-hard Saddam loyalists melted away then came back to haunt us - like last year cheeseburgers on the first grilling of springtime, it's a problem. So is the solution to the "paradox" that we should have won more slowly, or both planned for and warned the public about how tough the resistance would be, including it's propensity to gather varying groups of support, like Sadr. The fact the Bush administration spins most everything as a positive development - or at least, as part of what they already believe - does not worry me so much. Propaganda is part of every war, and part of every administration, to a certain degree. I am beginning to think they may believe some of their own propaganda, or more accurately, are less inclined to give as much consideration to facts that do not support what they already believe.