Yes, the fight is tougher than I expected. Mostly because I never imagined we'd allow Iran and Syria to supply the killers inside Iraq to perpetuate the terrorism we see today.
The enemy is using suicide bombings at a higher rate according to one study:
The study by the Gulf Research Center found 92 confirmed suicide attacks against civilian targets in February and March compared with 62 in the last two months of 2006.
"Since January they have sustained the highest level of suicide attacks since 2005, and higher casualty rates than at any period of the war," said Nicole Stracke, the report's editor.
These are just two of the victims of our enemies (AP: Injured Iraqi girls cry at a hospital in Kirkuk, Iraq, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Monday, April 2, 2007. A suicide truck bomber targeted a police station in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing at least 13):
Look at them and tell me that we should let scum who would inflict such pain win in Iraq.
How can some counsel retreat from the bastards who would do this to little girls? What crime did these girls commit??!! Are they supposed to be crying about why the terrorists hate them? Should they reconsider that they've done to deserve this?!! Is it their damn fault!
The thugs that did this are not "freedom fighters."
They are not "militants."
They are not "Minute Men."
They are not "resisting" an "illegal occupation."
They are terrorist murderers who rejoice in such crimes and believe they are on a mission from God to kill more such little girls. With bombs, knives, poison gas, or whatever they have.
Unfortunately, the casualties inflicted by our enemies raise the problem I wrote of earlier when I said I did not like the metric of success or failure that relies on the number of dead bodies in Baghdad. If we fail in the short run to reduce the casualties in the face of such killers are we really saying we should throw these two children to the tender mercies of the jihadis?
No. By God, no. The fact that the fight is tougher and is waged against killers far more vicious than I imagined in 2003 does not make me wish to retreat. Indeed, I should think that the monstrous nature of our enemies revealed inside Iraq should give us more reason than ever to win.
Monsters that prey upon children really do exist. And our soldiers and Marines are fighting with Iraqi soldiers and police to defeat those who prey on the innocent in pursuit of their sick dreams.
The only debate we should be having in this country is how do we kill the monstrous scum who slaughter and terrorize little children.
