Well, if the U.N. would have actually enforced any one of the 16 resolutions that were levied against Iraq after the first Gulf War, we not be in the pickle that we are in right now. Instead Saddam flagrantly violated each and every last one with nary a bat of an eye from the world. That's not to say this war has been a big mess, but Iras been a debacle for the world, through the UN, for a while now. Many politicians during the lat 90's , on both sides, spoke out about the threat the Iraq was. Clinton even launched Desert Fox in 1998 to retard Saddams WMD production capacity. There were still several hundred tons of mustard gas unnaccoutned for....you get the picture. It was not that just Iraq was a silent front until Bush and his cabinet planned to invade it. All of the little steps and failures to act along the way have helped bring us to this point.
Oh, and Gen. Pratraeus and his new 'Counter-Insurgencey' strategy has the troops no longer going on long patrols and becoming moving targets in a shooting gallery. They now are immbedded with Iraqi soldiers conducting joint operations in the sections of Bagdhad. That's the difference. Taking and holding not commuting to emergencies.
Oh, and please, can we drop the "Faux" News. I love how it is treated by some people, yet those that criticize it will glady go watch CNN or turn on Olberrmann or Chris fucking Mathews over on MSNBC. Because let me guess, CNN and MSNBC are split right down the ole' middle when it comes to coverage. Give me a fucking break. Every news outlet is slanted, most of them to the left, people just usually want to watch something that tells them what they want to hear.