Tom Marzullo at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic
We have hit the various compounds and facilities in that urban area with great precision, seeking to spare the populace from harm. Yet in ignoring the publicly announced paradigm of our enemy, we are in all likelihood targeting places long empty of the enemy's strength. So where are these divisions of Republican Guards?...If we use the same facts plainly in evidence—but evaluate them by first taking Saddam at his word, in the awful knowledge of his brutal tactics and arrogant disregard for human life—it becomes apparent that he has not planned to use human shields for his facilities, but rather for each of his individual soldiers. This stratagem at a stroke accomplishes several critical military and political goals. First, it reduces the effectiveness of our advanced standoff weapons—forces us into close combat and the increased casualties, both civilian and/or coalition that it will inevitably create. It also suppresses any internal revolt without diverting forces away from engaging coalition forces. On the political side, it uses our own citizens' paradigm of expecting quick, bloodless victory and our public policy of reducing civilian casualties against us.
So where is the Iraqi military? It is hiding in the homes of everyday citizens, suppressing any nascent revolt while using their own country's women and children as living sandbags—a stunningly brutal, but highly effective tactic. Hitler told us what he was planning in "Mein Kampf" and was ignored at the cost of rivers of blood, but we cannot afford to discount Saddam's announcement—nor should we. Sept. 11 should have already taught us that innocents are of no concern to terrorists or their supporters.
What I have seen leads me to suspect that what we are being drawn into is a partisan style, urban conflict rather than the conventional one we hoped for. This will create a flood of civilian and coalition casualties with the predictable adverse political fallout.
