Revolutionary Moderation

Gotta start getting our stories straight



The CIA reported yesterday that the Iraqi resistance may number as many as fifty thousand people. In the tradition of this administration, anything the CIA says has to be immediately contradicted. This time, the contrarian comes in the form of Geneneral John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command in Florida, who says there are no more than five thousand.



I have no idea, so I'm in no position to judge which estimate might be closer. But I do know a couple of things: missile strikes increase, not decrease, this number, and telling the troops it's only five thousand guys out there killing you at a rate of two a day is not all that great for morale. Neither, I suppose, is telling then fifty thousand people want to kill them. Kinda "damned if you do..." there, isn't it?