If I remember right, Saddam wanted 2 weeks from his military until he could launch his “secret war”. I think that took that much time for a whole BUNCH of al Qaeda to get in country and to stash huge cashes of ammo for them to use.
I think they depended on a few body bags would send our troop home packing as was the case in Somalia and Lebanon.
If a Democrat was in the White House, their theory would be correct. The troops would be sent home a long time ago and the terrorists would know just how hard to push to defeat our military. It did after all, work before.
The terrorists would know how well that worked and they can duplicate that each and every time they faced our military.