But Ignatius spoils the party by getting the bigger picture all wrong:
The United States is losing the war in Iraq because it cannot combat these makeshift weapons. An army with unimaginable firepower is being driven out by guerrillas armed with a crude arsenal of explosives and blasting caps, triggered by cellphones and garage-door openers.
No, we are not losing the war because terrorists after four years of war can't operate above squad level ambushes and terrorist tactics. We are suffering casualties from these devices. These IEDs are the lowest rung of resistance on the escalation ladder and though they have lots of money to fund these bombs, the enemy still can't manage a corporal's guard at any one point to take us on. We are winning this war.
If we are to lose this war, it won't be because such murderous but atomized enemies drove us from Iraq by IEDs, but because the chattering class back home can't endure the historically low casualties that these bombs are inflicting on our troops. Losses that our forces in the field shrug off as they go after the enemy. That's a big difference.
The enemy gets weaker as the enemy splinters and begins to defect, while the Iraqi government gets stronger. The only question is whether our ultimate withdrawal from most direct combat roles subtracts more relative power from our side than we can help the Iraqis add to their power or subtract from the enemy's side.
Have patience.
