The learned Victor Davis Hanson has made similar comparisons with battles from World War II. The Battle of the Bulge seemed big at the time, but Germany fell in six months. Okinawa was some of the worst fighting in the Pacific theatre and happened in April 1945, Japan surrendered in September.

What is up with the judge in the Shiavo case?

from the article: U.S. District Judge James Whittemore did not immediately make a ruling after the two-hour hearing, and he gave no indication on when he might act on the request.

... the judge told Gibbs[Terris parents lawyer] that he still wasn't completely sold on the argument. "I think you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that you have a substantial likelihood" of the parents' lawsuit succeeding, the judge said.

WTF? No big hurry judge. Not like anybodys going to die if you dont get off your fat ass. I mean what does it take to convince this judge? The president, Congress, and the Senate are all on board and hes still taking his sweet time.

One of the reasons Mosul lit up after Fallujah was cleaned out was the insurgents wanted to shorten their supply lines to Syria. That's the act of a retreating, not advancing, insurgency.

Fortunately, the existence of the blogosphere has so far kept the Tet Offensive analogy from being a perfect one. The media has not been able to totally control the public's perception, as it did so successfully with Tet.

The Judge aint gonna reinsert the feeding tube.

Freeper reported recently that the terrorists in Iraq were now having to go further abroad to Europe and the west to recruit new terrorists. Though I don't hear the fat lady singing, perhaps we have turned a corner (and none too soon as our recruitment is down). But no matter what the truth may be, we need to play up the fact that we are winning. In war, the psychological tipping point is everything, and if you can make the enemy think it has begun you can acheieve through propoganda what may not be possible on the battlefield, as the Vietnamese did in Tet. But as the Iraqi forces are deployed the weight will shift sharply against the bad guys because their forces don't have their hands tied like ours do, and for them it really is more of a life-and-death struggle with an enemy that is at your door all the time. Oh, and when they need information from prisoners, they will find a way to get it, and not by engaging in the bad comedy routine we saw at Abu Graib. Though I worry that they are going to pull-a- rabbitt-out-of-a-hat here in the US, for the moment it serves our purpose to proclaim that we are winning and that these increased attacks are the last gasp of the Wermarcht at the Battle of The Buldge.

> The Judge aint gonna reinsert the feeding tube.

I don't blame him. Sounds like a job for the nurse.