"our colonels and generals keep holding on to flawed concepts"

I think your wrong there. They are holding on to their pensions. And that makes them an even sorrier lot.

It will be really interesting to see how the administration tries to handle the ever increasing amount of criticism from people in top civilian jobs and middle and high ranking officers.

It would be too time consuming to go the usual way of the all out effort to discredit them, there are just too many now.

Hope the snow does not dry up as the ball gets bigger.....

My hunch is that he'll continue to ignore them, but that eventually, Congress won't. I think he's getting what he wanted all along from Iraq - a vast opening for the US oil industry. And if the industry is to be protected, he'll argue, the American military will be needed there for a long time. I think it's a trap: get the industry in, then permanently station American troops to protect "American interests." But I don't think, ultimately, that it will work. Just a guess. Point it, I don't think it matters to him that the war looks like a failure - he's getting what he went after, and has some chance of pulling off a long-term commitment.

But I don't think, ultimately, that it will work.

My guess is that it will not either, having US troops station in Iraq on a permanent basis would be for the Iraqi's a political "hot potato" at a time when they would be trying hard to cosolidate any peace and calm that had come to the country. It would also have a destabilising effect on the region as a whole, and of course lets not forget the terrorists, what a good target any permanent US troops would make.

Point it, I don't think it matters to him that the war looks like a failure

I'm sure that is probably true which makes it all the more important that he (Bush) (and others) are brought to justice.