After reading my post yesterday quoting Lt. Col. Paul Hastings as saying, “The terrorists are growing more desperate in their attempts to derail the elections and they’re trying to put it all on the line and give it all they can,” the author of the blog Hairy Fish Nuts sent a link to Desperation Watch, his collection of “desperate” quotes. So, there’s another thing to start bothering me as I read articles about Iraq. The desperate theme is almost as irritating as “anti-Iraqi forces” used to describe the resistance.
But, another thing about the “desperate” post seemed relevant this morning.
The former regime elements have watched Tikrit . . . slip away from their grasp over a period of time to the point where they have minimal influence over the local situation. They are desperate.
December 29, 2004 – spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division Maj. Neal O’Brien
You’d think that if the resistance had “minimal influence” over Tikrit, the US would use it’s stretched-thin manpower elsewhere, wouldn’t you? Like in Mosul, maybe.