Well, at the risk of being thrown out of the forum - this is war. If you expect the enemy to play by the rules you made up, then you're doing it wrong.

I remember in the early days of the war (I think the one in Afghanistan) I was somewhat bemused by the attitude of the BGen who was acting as the spokesman for the US military forces, talking about how the Afghani resistance was using undercover suicide bombers and hiding behind civilian "human shields"; he said something to the effect that these weren't soldiers, because soldiers wouldn't do anything so cowardly.

It struck me as a ridiculous attitude, and still does. Here was the most powerful country in the world - the world's only remaining superpower. They'd invaded another country; they had the most high-tech weaponry available on the face of the earth - tanks, stealth fighters and bombers, GPS, Type 1 cryptography, precision guided missiles, smart bombs, and everything else you could imagine wanting to have in a war. They were going up against people armed with antique rifles, home-made explosive devices, and anything else they could cobble together from the rubble. They may or may not have been sincere in their belief that they were legitimately defending their country against an invader; but here was the most powerful military force on earth whining about how THE OTHER GUY wasn't fighting fair.

It reminded me of the British officers in the American Revolution/War of Independence, complaining bitterly about how the "colonials" were hiding behind trees and wearing clothing that was hard to see, instead of standing out in the open wearing bright red uniforms, like the British soldiers. Very unsporting of them. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

The bottom line (without getting into the question of who's right and who's wrong) is that the most powerful nation on earth is engaged in a war with a group of people who are outnumbered, outgunned, and impoverished; the only weapon they have is the upcoming US Presidential election. If they can convince the American people to vote for Kerry, and that results in US troops being pulled out of Iraq, then it will have been a sound military strategy, just as it was in Mogadishu.

No matter how good your justification is, you can't invade someone else's country and then complain when they fight back. That's just reality. As Captain Erikson said to the captured U-boat commander in "The Cruel Sea" - "This is war. I'm sorry if it is too hard for you."