WTF, you are basically validating my primary points. The war was poorly planned, poorly executed and poorly managed.
There were not enough troops to get the job done. We had no coalition, which compounded the troop problem. And more fundamentally, our military is not designed for this type of occupation. The shift to a lighter, leaner high tech military has been ongoing for many years. In fact this was one of Rummy’s primary goals as secdef.
You can’t blame Clinton on our smaller active duty as this has been the trend for a long time and is continuing under Bush. More fundamentally, the Adminstration has no direct impact on military size. The President is in charge of the miltary but he does not make the budget, that is congress job.
So bottom line, whether you agree on the reasons to go to war or not, there is no debate that the planning and execution of the war has been a total failure. And the President is Commander in Chief, the number one leader of the military. As a result, he bears 100% responsibility for its successes and failures. Many of the Bush apologists refuse to admit that.