Remember Back, 3+ Years Ago

The administration and armed forces denounced body counts as something they would not do. They cited the lessons learned in Vietnam and boldly stated that was a trap they could not get caught in.

Check out this headline form the Washington Post, online.

Body Counts Now Cited as Benchmarks

The text is very telling.

Using enemy body counts as a benchmark, the U.S. military claimed gains against Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led fighters last week even as they mounted their deadliest attacks on Iraq's capital.

but if body count becomes the standard, that knife has to cut both ways.

But by many standards, including increasingly high death tolls in insurgent strikes, Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, could claim to be the side that's gaining after 2 1/2 years of war. August was the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops.

That is one reason they denounce the mentality that leads to body counts as one they would avoid. It also clearly displays just how bogged down we have become in Iraq, now body counts are the only means we have to measure our progress (such as it is).


UPDATE

Speaking of Progress, (or it's exact opposite) British Soldiers Clash With Iraqi Police in Basra.

Heavy clashes erupted Monday between Iraqi police and British soldiers based in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, witnesses said.

The clashes are the latest in surging tensions in Basra, a Shiite-dominated city that had long been one of Iraq's calmest. Attacks have targeted British and Americans there.

These are not insurgents, or terrorist, or dead enders, or bathist (or what ever term you like best), these men are the official arm of the government we installed, these are the men we have been training, and these are the men we are fighting.

If this were a piece of fiction, and not a news report, I would be thinking for-shadowing.