[theDentist]

Loooks like his Tet offensive was similar to that in '68. Back then, while it was a PR coup (with the willing help of the MSM), it was really a disaster. There were so many NVA wounded and killed that they lost control of their own war, and the Khmer Rouge (sp?) took over the leadership. Same here, where of 60 attackers, it seems 1 in 6 escaped whole!

Try it again, goat-boy. Allah's on your side, so you can't lose!

[Dr. Frank fan]

A big part of the problem is that the Tet Offensive was a military failure. It only "succeeded" because of the symbolism, spread by a compliant US media willing to amplify the doom & gloom assessment. Of course, that US media still exists today, but its power is greatly lessened - and there is competition in the form of blogs and alternative news sources, people (including Austin Bay) who will get the story right.

So, if Zarqawi really is going for a Tet Offensive that is good news for us. It's always good news when your enemy is pursuing a hopeless strategy premised on inapplicable assumptions that are mired in the past.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

The terrorist gang, however, took 50 casualties, out of a force estimated at 60 gunmen.

Too bad it wasn't 60.

[gridlock]

The "success" of the Tet Offensive was a creation of the American media. Don't think for a second they would love to do so again today, if given the chance...

[Former Dodger]

The MSM is already practicing for a new Tet, so to speak, even a simple straightforward statement becomes a message of DOOM, ask Secretary Rumsfeld:

Press Caught Distorting Rumsfeld on Iraq Exit Strategy (media bias)(another thread)

[alloysteel]

So, on an objective basis, al-Zarqawi HAS managed to replicate the Tet Offensive. The Viet Nam experience was aided and abetted by the MSM at the time, with no countervailing information available from alternate sources.

They had it almost right this time. Only the information flow from the combat zone did not conform to the original plan. And there is no contingent that could come to a peace table this time, to make demands for what could not be gained militarily.

Lt(JG) John F. Kerry, where are you?

[jolie560]

The MSM stands ready to oblige even the slightest of 'good news' IEDS or suicide car bombings.

Maybe it's time to overwhelm the enemy with daily reports of progress, so that positive news gets so boring, it's no longer news. Or does broadcasting of 'good news' just target us for another dose of MSM toro-teasing?

[wingman1]

"Al Qaeda remains trapped in a Vietnam fantasy. It is desperately trying to produce an "Iraqi Tet" -- a Middle Eastern repetition of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong 1968 offensive in South Vietnam."

This is all I had to read.

While the VC hope that a popular uprising did not occur in the major cities of South Vietnam, at least they enjoyed some popular support in the rural parts of Vietnam.

What the terrorists in Iraq have failed to understand is that car bombing innocent Iraqi civilians, as they attend Friday prayers in mosques, can NEVER produce popular support for their cause.

That is why the Iraqi and US troops are certain to win.

As one who fought elusive elements of VC and NVA, I can say with certainty that if the tide of battle changes to one of open confrontation; it'll all be over in a few months.