Bring 'Em On?

President Bush has all but dared the Iraqi resistance to continue its hit-and-run attacks on US troops. "There are some who feel like conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. "My answer is: bring them on. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation." [Reuters]

This guy is certifiable. What an absolutely stupid thing to say. First of all, no commander in history has ever just dared the enemy to attack, especially when the enemy uses tactics that make our own troops sitting ducks. Second, as the Vietnam War (and Cuba, Afghanistan, etc.) shows, the guerrillas always win. Their mission is to inflict damage on the occupiers that takes a political toll, not to "win" militarily.

At that, the Iraqi resistance is already succeeding. Current polls show a sharp drop in American support for continued occupation of Iraq in the face of 60 military deaths since Bush declared "major hostilites are over" on May 1. And at the same time, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has tried to deny that Iraq right now is a "guerrilla war."

The Administration is clearly defensive, and rightfully so. They're wrong and they know it. As Tom Lassiter observed for Knight-Ridder, "The Americans learned it the hard way in Vietnam, the Russians in Afghanistan, the British in Northern Ireland and now, it seems, the same scenario may be unfolding in Iraq."

Update: The New York Times on Monday July 7 wrote of the "growing signs of guerrilla resistance to American forces" after three more soldiers were killed in a 12-hour period in Baghdad. (When the Times adopts terminology, you know it's gone mainstream, depsite Rumsfeld's denials.)

 Posted by glenn