He thought that he would avenge his father, repair his tattered legacy.
He thought that it would be easy, after all, we have a large, well-trained, professional military bristling with high tech weapons.
He thought that once the dictator was gone, the people would dance in the streets and embrace their liberators.
He thought it would be a political triumph, that he would create an American nemesis then take him down, bringing popularity.
What was he thinking?
With the latest spike in violence in Baghdad, more U.S. troops have died since the turnover of power to an interim Iraqi government at the end of June than were killed during the U.S.-led invasion of the country in the spring of 2003.
A total of 148 U.S. military personnel have been killed since the partial transfer of sovereignty on June 28, compared with 138 who died in March and April of 2003, Pentagon figures show.
… “The ‘peace’ has been bloodier than the war,” said Capt. Russell Burgos, an Army reservist who recently returned from a tour of duty with an aviation regiment in Balad, Iraq. In his view, the U.S. experience in Iraq is coming to resemble Israel’s painful 18-year occupation of parts of southern Lebanon.
