Are Liberals Becoming as Dogmatic as Conservatives Regarding the War?

Ever since the invasion of Iraq became more than a twinkle in Bill Kristol's eye, American conservatives have supported it dogmatically--as they have supported almost all of Bush's endeavors. It's no secret that dogmatism is the plague of politics, and that it is even more prevalent among conservatives than among liberals...but the tenacity with which conservatives have defended the indefensible in Iraq is genuinely astounding. There are, you will note, still those who will even try to defend the administration's duplicitous case concerning WMDs.

Liberals--as is so often their way--spent a longish time just being rolled over by the force of conservative certainty. But finally the liberal anti-war movement began gathering steam, and it now seems to be barreling along with a fair amount of momentum.

My question is: are liberals now in danger of becoming as dogmatic as conservatives concerning the war? Or is this just the kind of lame-ass, quasi-skeptical worries that...well, make it easy for the force of conservative certainty to roll us over so much of the time?

I ask this for a couple of reasons. Among them are:

The administration now says that it needs until November to produce a proper assessment of progress in Iraq. Some liberals are screaming "no more Friedmans!", whereas I'm inclined to say: this is important. If the can make a case that they really need until November, then they get until November. But that's a hard deadline this time. NO EXTENSIONS.

And now pieces like this, by Kenneth Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon, have started popping up. Not that I trust Pollack, of course. But it does make me wonder.

The worst possible outcome, it seems, would be to endure five years worth of botched war and then pull out on the eve of victory. Decisions here are difficult, of course, given that the deliberations of those of us who are serious about this war must take place against the deafening background noise of perpetual conservative cheerleading, and non-stop propaganda and disinformation coming from the administration. But that doesn't relieve us of the obligation to be as rational about this decision as possible. It would, of course, be easier for us to be rational about this decision if conservatives, including the administration, would get serious about it. But since that is not likely to happen, we have to persevere under the prevailing conditions.