The pro-war people (in the US) have it worked out both ways.
Had the campaign gone smoothly -- had Saddam's government fallen "like a house of cards" -- this would have served as proof that the Iraqis obviously wanted the US there, that the Pentagon had formulated a relatively quick and bloodless humanitarian military strategy, and so the peace movement has nothing to complain about. ("Look, they wanted us in there, and we did it with hardly any loss of life; you peace protesters have no reason to whine.")
Contingency Plan #2, the Iraq War gets hairier. Since it's going less than perfect, the peace movement should not protest, because now the troops REALLY need our support. To protest when things go bad is especially treasonous and weakens soldiers' morale.
Either way, the underlying message is not to criticize.
Brian
On Tue, 1 Apr 2003, Kevin Robert Dean wrote:
>
> Why do the pro war people characterize this as our argument
> against the war? I saw this line of reasoning on Rush
> Limbaugh's site the other day.