This opperation strikes me as a perfect example of what has gone wrong with our occupation of Iraq, and actually of most occupations.

To be a conqueror is a difficult thing. Your strength must be maintained by overwhelming military force, which is always conspicuous. The locals fight against you with inflamed hatred. Your goal is to control, their goal is simply to disrupt, which is much easier.

And on top of all that, Americans are doing this from a position of extreme naivety and ignorance. It is as if this whole war is only a gedankenexperiment to them. Obviously this raid was an interesting idea, but it was also obviously destined to fail.

How disconnected are the commanders if they think this is going to win the war?