This afternoon I watched a program on the battle for Fallujah on the MIlitary Channel. In the initial battle in 2004 the marines were stopped just as they were about to take the city due to stupid decisions by the Bush Administration due to criticism that too many insurgents were being killed. After the marines left the city, the insurgents declared victory, had celebrations, and more insurgents from other Arab lands surged into the city. The insurgents then terrorized the inhabitants of the city with their religious extremism, and the population of the city fell from 300,000 to 30,000 as the citizens fled. Later the situation got so bad that the marines were ordered to retake the city, which now had twice as many insurgent defenders than before. The marines took the city, the citizens returned, and things are reasonably good there now. Our DEmocrat candidates for President have not grasped the lesson of Fallujah, as they promise to leave Iraq, giving victory to al Queda. (We might not think that we have lost, but our thinking is different from that of Arabs. Under the thinking of Arabs, our leaving will constitute a victory for them, even though they have suffered terrible losses. It takes resolve and staying power to defeat insurgents, something Democrats are sadly short on.)