Oh please, this is the lesson of the Kirkuk battle?
The attacks ultimately were pushed back, but they demonstrated an advanced level of training and discipline that belies any expectations that driving Islamic State out of northwestern Iraq will be either quick or painless.
The jihadis showed that they are well-equipped enough to force a standoff that lasted more than 24 hours and killed more than 99 civilians and security personnel.
Compared to the attacking force of 50,000--a corps-sized element supported by American and Coalition air and firepower--the ISIL attack on Kirkuk was by a company-sized force of about 100 jihadis.
ISIL pissed into the wind. And in a little over a day after hitting soft civilian targets, was defeated.
The miniscule ISIL counterattack had no impact on the offensive on Mosul.
Obviously, ISIL is going to fight. But don't elevate anything they do that goes beyond sitting there and taking our punishment as some stunning military coup.
Yes, the ride of the ISIL 100 was frightening. And the media was impressed.
But the ISIL attackers died and achieved nothing but increasing the body count of the war. The jihadis get neither glory nor honor for the charge they made.
And good luck with that virgins in Paradise thing, you sick murderous--and now dead--bastards.
Our country has been at war for fifteen years in varying degrees of intensity, yet our reporters as a general rule with rare exceptions still don't have a clue about reporting on war.
