“Force Protection” as a military strategy invites perimeter attacks (they know where we sleep), and it invites attacks on supply lines. Patrols are replaced with aerial bombardment (eg Fallujah) which allows the insurgency to grow (we end up killing their wives, children, and livestock). They can figure out right away what we are doing so they then set off a bomb, our forces go out and investigate, and the trap is set as a planned attack kills our forces.

IN Memory of SP4 David A. Cassidy, KIA 11/22/68, in a perimeter attack during the US application of Force Protection, Bien Hoa, RVN. “Tu Quoc Ghi O’n”, Anh Hai!

But of course, no one gave a shit about the soldiers.

I don’t think I need to comment further, do I?

You know, every step of the way in Iraq there have been pessimists and hand-wringers who said it can’t be done. And every step of the way, the Iraqi leadership and the Iraqi people have proven them wrong because they are determined to have a free and peaceful future.

The American people are such frigging morons that many of them still believe this shit. A
Rasmussen poll this past week found that 45% of Americans thought Iraq would be a success, while only 41% thought it would be a failure. There was an extremely high correlation between how a respondent thought the war would end and who he/she intended to vote for (Success 89% Bush, 7% Kerry; Failure 83% Kerry, 9% Bush).

The moral of the story (at least for the election): we have to get the word out — Iraq is a horrific disaster. Throw out the guy who got us into it.