The Pre-Iraq Debacle Mindset

[rpannier]

The administration likes to talk about how their critics are in a pre-9/11 mindset and this is what is hampering the war on terror.
In my opinion, the problem is that the administration is in a "Pre-Iraq Debacle Mindset."
The Pre-Iraq Debacle Mindset has the following characteristics:

1. The constant attempt to demonize and marginalize critics at home.
2. The belief that we only need limited help from the rest of the world in this fight.
3. That we can threaten other countries if they do not immediately fall in line with what we want.
4. Most of the rest of the world is really a hindrance in the War on Terror.
5. Many of our "Allies" really don't understand what the stakes are and do not appreciate the
chilling affect 9/11 had because it didn't happen to them.
6. That the situation in Iraq is manageable.
7. That the Taliban are "On the run" in Afghanistan
8. That Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq proves the link between Saddam and 9/11.
9. We must not change course in how we handle the War because it will send a signal to the
terrorists that we are not resolute in fighting this war.
10. We really are winning in Iraq. It's the fault of the media and liberals that we haven't
won the war yet.
11. That sectarian violence and the threat of a full-blown civil war occurring now are signs of real
progress happening in that region of the world. (It's a good thing all these people are being
kidnapped and murdered)

In the "Pre-Iraq Debacle Mindset" (PIDM)the world is viewed from the perspective of everything that occurred between Sept 11, 2001 and May 1, 2003. There is no acknowledgment that we are fighting this war "wrong-headedly."
That the administration marginalized men like Gen Shinseki and others in the military because they didn't share the administrations rhetoric and 'wishful thinking' on Iraq.
People living in "PIDM" do not recognize that the intelligence failures in Iraq were the fault of the administration because they really wanted to go into Iraq and were only willing to listen to the opinions of the "Yes-Men" around them.