In today’s press briefings at the Pentagon and White House, there was a sharp change in the media’s tone of questioning. After days of basking in the bright glow of bombs over Bagdhad and the roar of advancing U.S. troops, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer were suddenly, deeply, in the hot seat.

Did Washington underestimate the war in Iraq? Did the military officials soft-sell the difficulty? Did they overestimate the readiness of Iraqi troops to surrender? Or the Iraqi people’s willingness to rise up and rebel? Did they send enough troops to do the job?

Stephen Walt, Academic Dean at the Kennedy School of Government and Professor of International Affairs, says that the U.S. officials have raised unrealistic expectations about the length and the effectiveness of the war. But he also believes that it is too early to make a final judgement about this war’s outcome.

Click the “Listen” link above to hear more about how realistically the U.S. officials have depicited the war in Iraq.

Guests:

Lawrence Korb, Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Reagan Administration

Stephen Walt, Academic Dean at the Kennedy School of Government and Professor of International Affairs

News Analyst Jack Beatty, Senior Editor of the Atlantic Monthly