"The fruits of jihad (holy war) come after much patience and a lengthy stay in the battlefield ... which could last months and years," he said. "In the fight against the arrogant American tyrant who carries the flag of the cross, we find that despite its military might it is being crushed emotionally and morally.
"Our battle with the enemy is a battle of streets and towns and has many tactical, defensive and offensive methods. Fierce wars are not decided in days or weeks," he said, adding that U.S. forces had not achieved victory by entering Falluja.
Thug One seems to start with the assumption of bin Laden (formerly Thug One. Now Thug Regent or something) that America is weak morally and emotionally. This is standard Osama-talk it seems, filled with the belief that America will collapse if struck hard enough--and that doesn't even require much of a blow as Mogadishu taught them.
Yey the warning that the fight will take years to win against our military might certainly contradicts the easy-to-defeat theory. Being on the receiving end of our military might seems to have provided some reality check to Thug One as he assesses whether their light at the end of the tunnel is visible.
The second interesting thing this tells me is that Thug One has abandoned his summer forecast that should democracy come to Iraq, the jihadis will have no choice but to flee Iraq to fight elsewhere in more fertile ground. Democracy in Iraq, he feared, with mean the entire Iraqi nation would fight the insurgents. So the question for me is, has he decided that democracy in Iraq can be defeated after all? Well, his new view that no quick victory for the jihadis is in sight would seem to argue against him thinking that a democratic Iraq will be a pushover. If Thug One is resigned to a long fight inside Iraq despite the difficulties, is the decision to fight in Iraq no matter how long it takes merely a sign that he has nowhere else to go?
That's a pretty good sign to me. Thug One sees no better place to fight us outside Iraq and so is resigned to fighting for years there against an enemy he once assumed could not be beaten.
Kill them all. May Zarqawi and his jihadi buddies die where they stand.
