Twice Shy - So many

Twice Shy - So many on the left are convinced that Iraqis are, completely at odds with prewar hopes, irredeemably hostile to the US; that their sense of Arab nationalism will trump any relief that obtains from being liberated from Hussein.

I just saw CNN's Ryan Chillcothe (sp?) reporting from An Najaf, with the 101st Airborne. He indicated that in this city - where the US intends to come to stay - they were welcomed quite warmly. With the mass of US troops present, the Fedayeen death squads seem unlikely to recrudesce.

In other towns - the ones we've bypassed - the death squads are still able to travel, undercover, terrorizing, murdering those who express any joy at the Coalition arrival.

Something had to give in an offensive like this; with four divisions and change attacking a nation the size of California, you can not both garrison every town and drive for the objective.

But, like in any counterinsurgency operation, we will need eventually to put troops on the job garrisoning the Iraqi hinterlands, and especially hunting down any zealot guerrillas. Reports that Iraqi citizens have helped by pointing out sniper positions and headquarters are a promising thing.