Sure, Roc, you were there. I was flying past in a civilian 747 (it seemed to be over that quick). The point of the criticism from many of us is that the "war" was being prosecuted very well, and looked like it would be as clean and quick as it could be, and worth the loss of life and money it cost. Don't forget that Iraq had escalated the war by attacking Israel and Saudi Arabia and it was not just a matter of tossing them out of Kuwait, as the apologists now claim it was. It was a war that was presented to the world in real time on TV and even after the event there did not appear to be any other agenda than the one given, which was to make Iraq unable to threaten its neighbours, and to destroy its weapons of mass destruction. Forcing them out of Kuwait was only the first step.
And, in a now typical US move, the war was taken over by the politicians and utterly corrupted. As it turns out, it would be safe to say that Saddam not only got a stalemate, he got a victory. Leaving Saddam free to re-build, with the major part of his army intact, made the loss of life, civilian as well as military and on both sides, pointless.
Just as the Chinese are indoctrinated by their own propaganda, so are the Americans (my father in law is a Kansas farmer and he believes everything CNN tells him to believe. In my experience, typical behaviour. And don't start me on what California teaches my kids in school!). We are upset when Japan changes history in its school text books, but don't care when the US does the same. Go figure...
I just hope that this is not the end of it, since the Chinese will now feel free to rule the South China Sea, and its neighbours, with force. If they could make the world's only super power back down in humiliation (that's the way they will see it) there is no limit to what they can do. How can the US now send another "Spy" plane into the area without showing its word is worthless? And how many escorts will be needed? On the surface, it looks as if the US has lost this one, big-time. Hope I am wrong.