Attrition

Every once in a while the press reports a big insurgent attack and I comment that it is unusual since my impression is that the enemy rarely attacks in even platoon strength (30-50 men). I wondered if I was getting the right impression from press reports.

Apparently so:

A U.S. combat post was attacked by two suicide truck bombs and about 30 gunmen west of Baghdad on Monday, but American soldiers succeeded in repelling them and killed 15, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The attack on the combat post in the Garma area, near Falluja, was unusual given that insurgents do not typically launch such large-scale military assaults. Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

Thirty isn't really big, but even this is unusual for the enemy. Four years into the insurgency and terror campaign, that's pretty sad (for the enemy, of course).

If the enemy mistakenly believes that these small company-sized combat outposts are vulnerable targets, a lot more of the enemy will die trying to overrun them.

As political progress strips the non-jihadi portions of the enemy away from the fight, such attrition of those who remain will help push the enemy over and hasten their defeat.