Harder, harsher war, PD? I posted about this earlier, come on, get real. No one, I mean no one f***s with the US military. We possess the strongest, most agile, most devastating fighting force on earth. Our annual defense budget surpasses the defense expenditures of all other countries on earth COMBINED. We have lost nearly 3000 and crippled no telling how many soldiers in this war, and trust me, the other side’s casualties are a lot worse. They probably lose 10 for every one we lose. Trust me, our guys aren’t holding back, they’re letting ’em have it with everything they’ve got. When our patrols get fired on, our guys shoot back until the fire stops. And sometimes that means calling for a tank or a Hornet to drop a 500 or 2000 pounder. That’s just how assymetrical urban warfare works, it’s tough, brutal and ugly. Not a John Wayne movie at all. I’m sure there are a lot of guys on this board (some of whom are active duty, I might add) that would like to hear your detailed plans on how to win this conflict. “Getting tough” or “fighting harder” ain’t cutting it. In fact if you told the guys over there sweating in that 120 degree heat that you think they’re fighting “too nicely”, I think you just might get a boot in your ass.
There’s a famous story about a meeting between American and Vietnamese generals at the war’s end. The American general said, “You know, you never beat us in battle.” The Vietnamese general replied, “That is true, but it is also irrelevant.”