The Fourth Rail has some analysis of the fighting going on in western Iraq in Operation Matador in which three Marines and over 100 insurgents have already lost their lives.
Perhaps one of The Fourth Rail's more interesting observations is this:
Col. Stephen Davis states, "The insurgents we're fighting today are not the guys getting $50 to put [a roadside bomb] on the side of the road... These are the professional fighters who have come from all over the Middle East. These are people who have received training and are very well-armed." The insurgents are fighting to the death from bunkers, basements and other concealed positions that do not provide for easy escape. Similar tactics were used by dead-enders in Fallujah, and similar results - the enemy's defeat - will occur during Operation Matador, dealing yet another blow to al Qaeda's jihad in Iraq.
Belmont Club has maps and additional details.
The war is gradually, maybe even quickly, evolving from an indigenous insurgency to a foreign invasion. This is going to make it much harder for the radicals on the loopy Left to claim that the insurgents are just Iraqis patriots trying to expel foreign infidels. We're confident, though, that somehow they'll find a way to turn these alien fighters into naturalized Iraqi citizens.
See UPDATE below.
