"In Postwar Iraq, the Battle Widens" (Washington Post)

[DemoTex]

Recent Attacks on U.S. Forces Raise Concerns of a Guerrilla Conflict

Recent Iraqi attacks on U.S. troops have demonstrated a new tactical sophistication and coordination that raise the specter of the U.S. occupation force becoming enmeshed in a full-blown guerrilla war, military experts said yesterday.

The new approaches employed in the Iraqi attacks last week are provoking concern among some that what once was seen as a mopping-up operation against the dying remnants of a deposed government is instead becoming a widening battle against a growing and organized force that could keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops busy for months. (Snip ..)

But a growing number of military specialists, and some lawmakers, are voicing concern about trends in Iraq. There is even some quiet worry at the Pentagon, where some officers contend privately that the size of the U.S. deployment in Iraq -- now about 150,000 troops -- is inadequate for force protection, much less for peacekeeping. The Army staff is reexamining force requirements and looking again at the numbers generated in the months before the war, said a senior officer who asked not to be named.
(More ...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17958-2003Jul6.html?nav=hptop_ts

Postwar in whose judgement? The AWOL-in-Chief's? Also, the last paragraph cited above indicates that "a growing number of military specialists, and some lawmakers," as well as some Pentagon military officers, are not singing from the same page of the hymnal from which Bu$h and Gen. Tommie Franks are singing their scary duet, the common refrain of which seems to be "Bring 'em on!"