25 dead found in the initial sweep. 35 arrested. No more talk of 800 dead.

I admit it's reading between the lines, and it seems to me, given what I've read, that this was classic. They hit us, hunkered down, and moved out to hit us again. Like the early part of the American Revolution.

In a guerilla war both sides can claim victory in any particular fight. The problem with those fights for the "visitors" is the "home team" can melt away into the hospitablity of the people and countryside, and the victory is hollow unless the attrition is more than the "vanquished" can afford.

Late last week Rumsfeld said the worst would be over last weekend. And since then I haven't heard of any American casualties. No one wants casualties - AND it seems hard to have a ground war without some. It sounds to me as if the al Qaeda moved out, but that no one wanted to go look, at least not closely.

It sounds to me as if they left and Rumsfeld declared victory. I hope we can "win" over there, pray lives aren't wasted in a hopeless mess.

Arf