Not even. The whole thing is brilliant. Get them all in one place and kill them all. It would be nicer if we had a good death ray or remote detanator on line, but we can try to have those up for Iran.

The interviews with the young Marines and Soldiers leads one to believe that they are experiencing great job satisfaction.

Lou - MOABs

regarding superior firepower I saw somewhere where the combat was likened to video games as soldiers were able to look at screens and press a button to direct fire on enemies hundreds of yards away. This isn't to say our troops aren't in danger and aren't heroic but the superior firepower makes a big difference.

Our ability to kill enemies wholesale is undoubted. What makes our forces terrifying is their ability to discriminate enemies from the harmless and kill discretely; to kill enemies and not civilians. Lethal discrimination, at range, in the dark, from secure positions. Watch as this awesome power works on the enemy mind. In the end we will kill far fewer than we take prisoner. That outcome will crush the gangsters will to power.

This is ragheads shaking their spears against Hammer's Slammers.

Mogadishu was a tactical and strategic failure. Kill ratios are over-rated, just ask the Finnish Army.

All the mistakes we made in Mogadishu are being skillfully avoided here. The terrorists have no escape route. Our soldiers have the proper training and weaponry. The civilians have been given plenty of notice and time to make themselves scarce.

A US military statement said today Zarqauri may have escaped? How would they know and is this city sealed tight?

Just lowering expectations, I imagine. Zarqawi, like bin Laden, may well be blown in to tiny pieces and we'd never know it.

Maybe in a couple years they'll send out a Zarqawi look-alike who will quote large sections of Michael Moore's latest handiwork.

It's not altogether inconceivable that al-Zarkawi is basking in the Meditteranean sunshine with Bin Laden and various Saudi princelings. Marbella or Torremolinos is a far more likely place to find him than Fallujah.

Bart;

You forgot support. Unlike Mogadishu, the boys in Fallujah have all of the Abrahms, artillery and gunships they want. I'm sure Mr. Cohen is right and they're enjoying using the big hammer on the jihadis.

I heard Wolf Blitzer say today that the US was suffering "heavy casualties" in Fallujah, i.e. 10 dead so far. The complete and total ignorance that the mainstream media has of military matters, and their complete lack of perspective concerning casualties, is a serious problem. Especially considering that Iraq is by no means the end of the WOT.

AOG has hit the nail on the head. The difference between Mogadishu and Fallujah is the man in the White House.

The 500 shells that we have fired, because of the accuracy of the targeting systems, is equivalent to 5000 shells from WWII. We'll take them out block by block. They'll die to the man, we'll suffer minimal casualties. Brian is right about the cluelessness of the MSM, or maybe they just have to exaggerate for the sake of generating interest. As the WOT goes on, lopsided American victories will become old hat, as interesting to cover as the Harlem Globetrotters beating the Generals.

Without a doubt, the MSM in the US and especially in Europe will look at this slaughter and declare it UNFAIR barbarism!!!

(You see, it's either an unfair slaughter or it's a quagmire---actually it's both: the best of both worlds!)

And so, as in the Israel-Palestine "conflict," the suicide bombings in Iraq will be viewed increasingly as the only way the poor, hapless terrorists (sorry, freedom fighters) can fight back. And therefore terror will, more and more, be supported, encouraged, and adulated. (Of course thanks to Michael Moore et al., this is already the case.)

Thus is terrorism elevated to virtue in the eyes of the morally corrupt, whose numbers are high and will likely increase.

And the problem is I'm not sure that there is any "humane" way to short-circuit this mechanism short of total destruction. (Though to be sure, being humane to psychopaths is asking for trouble.)

The European MSM already is, just read the Independent and the Guardian.

“These people are hardcore,” Capt Robert Bodisch told Reuters news agency.

“A man pulled out from behind a wall and fired an RPG at my tank. I have to get another tank to go back in there,” he said.

"I have to get another tank" – I think that's going to be my favorite quote from this battle. It so expresses the courage of our military and the industrial power that keeps them going.